Nigeria’s military says the leader of the branch of the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) Abu Musab al-Barnawi, is dead.
Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, disclosed this on Thursday, but didn’t give any details.
Al-Barnawi’s death was first reported in September.
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has not said any about the military’s claims.
Al-Barnawi, eldest son of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf, became the ISWAP leader in 2016, after his crisis with Abubakar Shekau, who became Boko Haram leader after Yusuf’s death in police custody in 2009.
Under Barnawi’s leadership, ISWAP captured more villages and towns in Northeast and Chad Basin, spreading to neighbouring countries, such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Mali.
ISWAP has been seen as the strongest group in Nigeria since the death of Shekau earlier this year.
And since Shekau’s death in early 2021, thousands of Boko Haram fighters have surrendered to both the military and ISWAP
