Military steps up attacks, achieves significant victories over ISWAP, Boko Haram in northeast

The Nigerian Army has made significant strides in combating the North-East insurgency through Operation Hadin Kai, with a notable escalation of offensives against key leaders and strongholds of ISWAP and Boko Haram.

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Maj.-Gen. Abulsalam Abubakar, Theatre Commander of the North East Joint Task Force Operation Hadin Kai, revealed this information in a recent interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Maiduguri on Friday.

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Abubakar stated that despite recent attacks and losses, the troops of Operation Hadin Kai have consistently been closing in on insurgent groups, gradually reconfiguring the conflict landscape across the North-East.

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The Nigerian Army and its Air Force component under Operation Hadin Kai have sustained a series of targeted offensives aimed at key leadership figures and strongholds of the Islamic State of the West African Province and Boko Haram.

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Recent operations have focused on dismantling the command structures of insurgent groups, disrupting their logistics networks, and restricting the freedom of movement of terrorists across critical corridors in Borno.

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One of the most notable successes achieved by the troops was the neutralisation of Modu Kundiri, a top ISWAP commander and Qa’id of the Pulka axis in Gwoza Local Government Area.

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Kundiri was eliminated during a coordinated ground operation along the Madagali–Gwoza axis, a strategic route linking the Sambisa Forest and the Mandara Mountains, with his death triggering leadership uncertainty within the ISWAP ranks.

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The theatre commander also disclosed that in Kukawa Local Government Area, troops eliminated Malam Bako Gorgore, also known as Abou Mustapha, a senior member of ISWAP’s Shura Council responsible for high-level operational planning, recruitment, and ideological direction.

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Airstrikes in the Yuwe axis of Sambisa Forest also resulted in the elimination of several high-value commanders, including Saddam, Saleh Garin Kago, Hussaini Ubaida, and Ba Alayi Benbem.

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Furthermore, internal crises within ISWAP have led to the deaths of Abu Kasim, who was reportedly killed by an improvised explosive device planted by rival elements, and Abu Nazir, who was eliminated during internal purges linked to factional disputes.

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The Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai has played a crucial role in complementing ground offensives, with air assets destroying command centres and logistics hubs, neutralising clusters of insurgents in Sambisa Forest, and intercepting and eliminating fleeing fighters along withdrawal routes.

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In the Ngoshe–Pulka corridor, rapid-response airstrikes neutralised more than 50 insurgents following a failed attack, demonstrating improved surveillance and strike coordination.

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Troops repelled a major assault on a military formation in Malam Fatori, Abadam Local Government Area, killing 84 ISWAP terrorists, including senior commanders, in one of the most significant engagements in recent weeks.

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The attackers, largely drawn from ISWAP elements, had deployed advanced tactics, including the use of armed drones, but troops responded with coordinated ground fire and precision airstrikes, resulting in heavy casualties and disruption of enemy manoeuvres.

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Abubakar emphasized that these operations were not random strikes, but targeted efforts aimed at dismantling the operational backbone of insurgency.

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Despite recent setbacks, troops have continued to hold ground, repel incursions, and extend operations deeper into the terrorists’ enclaves in Sambisa Forest, Timbuktu Triangle, and other parts of the Lake Chad shores.

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The sustained targeting of insurgent leadership, combined with precision airstrikes and improved battlefield coordination, has significantly reduced the operational capacity of insurgent groups, with the security situation gradually shifting in favour of the Nigerian forces, according to Abubakar.