Local vigilantes and youths have apprehended eight suspected ISWAP fighters and turned them over to security forces in Niger State, Northcentral Nigeria.
It was gathered that the suspected terrorists were apprehended while being questioned by authorities in the New Bussa neighborhood of Wawa.
The suspects confessed to their role in the community, according to a source involved in the search.
The source said: “We thank God for the efforts of the military in our area. As part of our security consciousness, after recent attempt on a military base in Wawa, we searched for strangers in our community and we were able to arrest eight of them with criminal intent and recovered AK-47 guns, 10 Magazines, and 160 bullets, among other lethal ammunitions.
“Surprisingly, some of the suspects even prayed the early-morning Muslim prayer with us in a Mosque. Nobody would have thought that they are criminals, as they looked very religious and pious and they are not even Fulanis,” he said.
This development comes one week after the Nigerian Military neutralised Ali Kwaya and Bukar Mainoka, two of the Islamic State of West African Province’s, ISWAP, top terrorist leaders in Borno.
When the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai conducted air interdiction missions at Belowa, one of the very few remaining ISWAP/Boko Haram enclaves in the Tumbuns, Lake Chad Region in Abadam Local Government, Messrs Kwaya and Mainoka, who were also important members of the ISWAP Shura Council, they met their demise.