Accidental explosion kills ISWAP chief bomb maker | Tellwell Newspaper
Tellwell Newspaper, Abuja – Nigeria:
Islamic State West Africa (ISWAP) chief bomb manufacturer was killed in an accidental explosion when an improvised explosive device (IED) in the works went off in his workshop in the group’s Sambisa forest stronghold, Tellwell Newspaper exclusively reports.
Malam Awana was blown to pieces by the IED to which he was putting finishing touches inside a bomb-making factory behind his house in a Awana village, a camp named in his honour inside the forest, sources familiar with ISWAP activities said.
The explosion happened on Thursday but news of the incident was slow to emerge as the group tried to hush it up.
Awana was ISWAP’s most experienced and notorious bomb maker who was responsible for most of the mines planted against troops in northern Borno, according to the sources.
“Awana’s death is a huge blessing to the counterinsurgency operation and a monumental loss to ISWAP because it will take them a long time to have his replacement, who has the same level of skills and ruthlessness,” one of the sources told Tellwell.
He was responsible for all the mines planted along Bama – Maiduguri, Banki – Bama, Bama – Pulka axes which claimed the lives of dozens of Nigerian soldiers and civilians.
The latest mine Awana planted on March 16 outside the town of Banki near the border with Cameroon killed four soldiers and injured three others alongside seven civilians, Tellwell gathered.
ISWAP, which is an Islamic State affiliate, split from mainstream Boko Haram in 2016 and rose to become a dominant jihadist group, focusing on high-profile targets, including troops and staff of international charities working in the region.
