At least 18 persons have died in Galadima Kogo, a district in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, following a supremacy battle between fighters of the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram. 

Eight among those killed in the attack, which started on Saturday afternoon, were members of local vigilantes, while about 10 were residents of the area, according to multiple sources.

FIJ learned the insurgents were trying to extend their reign to other districts in the LGA. A source said Galadima Kogo, a district in Lakpma ward, comprises half of the villages in Shiroro LGA.

“Their plan was to dislodge the security camp impeding them from orchestrating attacks on the community and its environs,” a source said.

FIJ gathered that ISWAP had taken over Kaure district in Shiroro.

READ MORE: ISWAP Attacks Security Camp, Kills Dozens in Niger Community

Since the death of Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram’s leader last year, supremacy fights between his Boko Haram faction and the one loyal to ISWAP have intensified. ISWAP has attacked various Boko Haram hideouts in northern Nigerian forests. 

READ ALSO: ISWAP Kills Brigadier-General, Three Other Soldiers in Borno

On Sunday, FIJ reported that prior to the attack in Galadima Kogo, security formation was withdrawn from the village to the Kontogora axis. However, Emmanuel Jee Umar, the Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Internal Security, told Newsline, the state-owned newspaper, that the claim was not true.

He noted that the government would revenge the latest killings in the district. “What I am assuring you is that we are going to revenge. There are no two ways about it. There is an air operation currently going on, and we have drafted security agents to the area. We will bring everything under control and return normalcy,” he said.