Last Thursday, several fighters from Shekau’s camp were said to have been killed in two separate gun battles with IS-backed Barnawi gunmen in the Monguno area of Borno State near Lake Chad.
Nigeria’s military declined to comment on the reported in-fighting when contacted by a reporter. But Mele Kaka, who lives in the area, told AFP that, “The Barnawi faction launched an offensive against the fighters of Shekau faction who were camped in Yele and Arafa villages. “In Yele, the assailants killed three people from the Shekau camp, injured one and took one with them, while several others were killed in Arafa,” he told a correspondent via telpehone.
This development may come as good news to Nigerians as an internal crack will go a long way in crippling the potency of the sect that is still holding unto 217 Chibok girls abducted from their school in 2014 and currently using them as a bargaining chip to free their arrested commanders.
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