Breaking: 104 ISWAP militants, wives and children surrender to Nigerian troops – Army

Another 104 members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram terrorists have surrendered to Nigerian troops in Borno State.

The Nigerian Army stated this in a post shared via its Twitter handle on Monday.

According to the tweet, the 104 terrorists consisted of their wives and other family members surrendered on Saturday to the troops of 25 Task Force Brigade Damboa, Borno State.

It reads, “ISWAP fighters and their families numbering 104 comprising 22 males, 27 females and 55 children surrendered to troops of 25 Task Force Brigade Damboa, Borno State on Saturday 5 February 2022.”

ISWAP split from Boko Haram in 2016 to become a dominant group in Nigeria with ties to the so-called Islamic State.

Recall that in August 2021, the Nigerian Army gifted clothes and food items to over 1,000 Boko Haram and Islamic State West African Province fighters whom the military claimed had surrendered to troops in Borno State during a clearance operation.

Since then, at least 18,000 Boko Haram fighters and their families have surrendered to the army following the death in May of their leader Abubakar Shekau.

WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that Shekau blew himself up to avoid being capture during infighting with the rival ISWAP faction in his Sambisa Forest enclave.