Awana Gaidam, a high-ranking terrorist and chief bomb maker, was killed by his own improvised explosive device, marking a significant victory for Nigerian military operations in the North-East and confirming that things are not good inside the Boko Haram terrorist camp (IED).
Aside from his high position in the Boko Haram terrorists’ command structure, the 39-year-old chief bomb maker was one of their skilled workers engaged in creating IEDs.
Many IED attacks against Operation Hadin Kai soldiers were allegedly carried out by Awana along major thoroughfares between Maiduguri and Damboa, Bama and Pulka, Bita, and the general area of Darajamal.
He was killed instantly when a bomb struck his vehicle on March 27 along Njumia and Arra in the Sambisa Forest, according to information obtained by Zagazola Makama, a Counter-Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad region, from intelligence sources.
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According to the sources, Awana placed bombs in strategic locations to protect his camp within the Sambisa Forest. Little did he know, however, that he had also plotted an attack on himself, which caused him to blow up and shatter into pieces.
In the North-East, Boko Haram and rival Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) have used IEDs in more than 90 random attacks since 2022.
The Nigerian Army, Air Task Force, Operation Hadin Kai, along with the combined forces of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), Niger, Cameroon, and Chad in the LakeChad sub-region, increased and sustained pressure on the insurgents until they turned to the use of IEDs.
Therefore, Awana’s passing deals a serious blow to the terrorist organization Jam’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-operational Jihd’s capacity.
