By: Special Correspondent

A deadly clash between the factions of Boko Haram the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunna lid-Da‘wa wa’l-Jihād (JAS) and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) has resulted in the reported death of more than 50 fighters at Toumbun Gini, an island community in Abadam Local Government Area of Borno State.

Security sources told Zagazola Makama that the clash occurred on Sunday afternoon around 3 pm, following an attempted offensive by ISWAP fighters.

According to the source, ISWAP mobilised fighters using 10 high-powered watercraft and launched an attack aimed at reclaiming the island, believed to have recently fallen under the control of the rival JAS faction.

However, intelligence reportedly reached JAS leadership ahead of the assault, enabling them to set up a counter-ambush.

At exactly 1500 hours, ISWAP boats landed and what was planned as a surprise offensive quickly turned into a deadly trap. The first shots were decisive. JAS fighters overpowered them within minutes. ISWAP was routed,” the source said.

The source said over 50 ISWAP fighters were killed during the ambush, with seven of their boats seized. The remaining three vessels escaped with casualties. Video clips appearing to show the aftermath of the clash surfaced online on Sunday.

Zagazola described the clash as Day 5 of intensified rivalry between the two insurgent factions, which have been fighting over territorial dominance and control of resources in the Lake Chad islands.

The continued push by JAS against ISWAP could force surviving ISWAP fighters deeper into mainland communities bordering Kukawa, Monguno and Marte LGAs, increasing security risks for civilians and security personnel.

The rivalry has however, weakened both factions, reducing their ability to launch coordinated large-scale attacks. However, this fragmentation also poses a different challenge: smaller, unpredictable cells that are harder to track.

What is happening on Lake Chad today is a conflict within a conflict and Nigerian troops remain in the middle of the battlefield. The fighting could be leveraged strategically by intensifying pressure on both groups simultaneously.

“This is the best time for the Nigerian military to tighten the corridor and deny both factions space to regroup,”said Rivalry.
Clashes between rival jihadist factions Boko Haram and ISWAP have escalated tenssion in the Lake Chad region.
Our correspondent reports that, the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have intensified their rivalry across strategic island strongholds and riverine settlement routes in Abadam and Kukawa Local Government Areas of Borno State.

Between 5 and 8 November 2025, Boko Haram’s Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) launched a fierce coordinated assault on its rival faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), across a stretch of islands identified as Sahel 1, Dogon Chuku, Mangari, and linked riverine basins spanning Tumbun Gini – Tumbun Dalo – Tumbun Shanu – Mangari – Dumba in Abadam and Kukawa local government areas of Borno State.

The fighting was intense. The objective was clear. JAS wants to erase ISWAP. Sources revealed that JAS fighters, led by commanders Hassan Buduma and Mohd Hassan, mobilised multiple watercraft loaded with fighters and heavy weapons, moving in waves from Tumbun Gini through the upper river basin to Tumbun Dalo, Tumbun Shanu, Mangari, Dumba and surrounding islands, a chain of sandy enclaves where humanitarian presence is almost non-existent.

In a scene described as “an amphibious assault in insurgent style,” JAS fighters attacked ISWAP from the water, surprising them at dawn. “This is not a misunderstanding, this is a takeover,”said one intelligence source familiar with the region.
However, after days of sustained fighting,
ISWAP fighters were forced to abandon their river camps scrambling for their lives.

The number of casualties remains unknown, but ISR reportedly picked up heat signatures of several bodies floating and others buried in shallow sand pits.

Multiple sources also confirmed that JAS deployed several motorized watercraft in a multi-axis assault, overrunning ISWAP clusters and pushing surviving fighters off the island perimeter into mainland hideouts around Ali Jillimari, Metele, Kangarwa, and Gudumbali in North of Borno.

While both groups share an extremist ideology, the battle has nothing to do with religion. It is about power. Control of the Lake Chad islands means control of millions of naira collected through extortion of fishermen and traders, they will also take control of the Arms and fuel smuggling corridors through Niger, Chad and Cameroon. They will also have mobility advantage where the water channels provide a perfect cover from air surveillance.

ISWAP had dominated these islands since 2021, after the death of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. But water levels have receded this season, opening new land routes and exposing old fishing settlements.

At the core of this escalation is not ideology — but dominance. JAS, according to intelligence intercepts, has vowed to “totally eliminate ISWAP presence in the Lake Chad islands”, and seize ISWAP’s lucrative supply corridors interfacing Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

JAS reportedly plans to push further south toward ISWAP headquarters within Marte and Ngala LGAs, a strategic move that, if successful, would reverse ISWAP’s dominance for the first time since 2021. Once ISWAP regroups on the mainland, it will retaliate violently to reclaim the islands. The group has never allowed a territorial defeat to stand.

Zagazola report that the clashes represent a transition from sporadic skirmishes to a full territorial campaign. More ambushes, roadside bombs and abductions along access routes linking Metele, Kangarwa and the Maiduguri–Damasak MSR, should be anticipated.

The emerging trend suggests that both factions will now lunched retaliatory raids on each other’s strongholds, attack supply lines, including river transport. Communities in Kukawa and Abadam especially fishermen, transport boat operators, and seasonal farmers will bear the immediate consequences.

The Lake Chad Basin has always held strategic value a place where borders blur and armies struggle to manoeuvre. But this new insurgent rivalry marks a turning point. For the first time in years, Boko Haram and ISWAP are not just fighting the state. They are fighting over who gets to rule the shadows.

And somewhere in the middle caught between gunboats, ideology and hunger are the civilians of the Lake Chad islands, whose lives continue to be shaped by a war they did not choose and cannot escape.

Zagazola Makama is a Counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad Region