Nigerian troops have recovered a camcorder from a slain Islamic State West Africa Province cameraman, and the military says forensic analysis of its contents points to foreign fighters in ISWAP operating alongside senior commanders in Borno State.
The reported involvement of foreign fighters in ISWAP also highlights the challenge facing regional security forces as the group seeks to maintain links with wider extremist.
The device was recovered after soldiers of the 19 Brigade, Sector 3, under Operation HADIN KAI, repelled an attempted infiltration at Cross Kauwa in Kukawa Local Government Area on the night of Saturday 11 July. Capt. Mohammed Goni, the operation’s acting media information officer, said in a statement reported by Vanguard that troops detected the insurgents’ movement early and responded with coordinated firepower, forcing them to retreat with heavy losses.
Two soldiers were wounded in the exchange and were airlifted for treatment, according to the same statement, and are said to be in stable condition.
Punch reported that preliminary forensic analysis of the last video recorded before the attack indicated the operation was coordinated by four senior ISWAP commanders, known as Qai’ds, working alongside three foreign terrorist facilitators. The military named two of them. One is a Palestinian identified as Abu Ishaq, assessed by the military to be ISWAP’s overall trainer. The other is a Moroccan identified as Abu Thaiba, described as a medical doctor working within the group. A third Arab operative remains unidentified.
It is worth noting the military itself has described this as preliminary analysis, not confirmed identification, and independent verification of the named individuals has not yet been possible.
The claim of foreign fighters in ISWAP is not new on its own, even if this specific footage is. A 2025 intelligence brief from the Soufan Center, an independent security research organisation based in the United States, documented an influx of foreign fighters into ISWAP’s ranks in the Bosso region near the Niger border, noting they tended to be more ideologically rigid and militarily proficient than local recruits. That assessment, produced separately from Nigeria’s military and before this incident, lends outside weight to the pattern the army is now describing.
Security analysts say the reported presence of foreign fighters in ISWAP would further underscore the group’s transnational links and ability to attract experienced operatives from outside the Lake Chad Basin.
Goni said the presence of foreign fighters in ISWAP reinforces existing intelligence assessments that the group continues to benefit from external support, specialist expertise and transnational terrorist connections. He added that the insurgents had also been attempting to loot cholera medical supplies from the area, which he said supports separate intelligence reports of a cholera outbreak inside ISWAP camps.
Daily Post reported that troops also recovered PKT and 7.62mm ammunition, terrorist uniforms and other combat equipment during follow-up operations in the area. Satellite imagery and human intelligence gathered afterwards, according to the military, showed the fleeing insurgents evacuating the bodies of some of their dead while others escaped with gunshot wounds.
The North East has seen a documented rise in ISWAP’s tactical sophistication in recent years, including the use of kinetic drones and more elaborate propaganda output, according to the Soufan Center’s analysis, which also linked the trend to a broader consolidation effort by the group along the Niger border.
Goni described the failed infiltration as another significant operational setback for ISWAP, capping what he called a costly weekend for the group. He said Operation HADIN KAI remains committed to sustained offensive operations across the North East until security is restored.
The identities of the foreign fighters in ISWAP named in this latest claim have not been independently confirmed outside the military’s own statement, and further verification would strengthen the account.
