Awana Gaidam, Boko Haram chief bomb maker, has been killed by his own Improvised Explosive Device(IED) in Sambisa Forest, Borno State, Northeast Nigeria.
The 39 year-old chief bomb maker, apart from his high status in the command structure of the Boko Haram terrorists, was one of their capable hands involved in making IEDs.
According to a report by Zagazola Makama, a counter insurgency expert in the Lake Chad region, Awana was believed to be responsible for plotting many IEDs attack on troops of Operation Hadin Kai during patrols, along major highways between Maiduguri and Damboa, as well as from Bama to Pulka, Bita, Banki and Darajamal’s general area.
Intelligence Ssources told Makama that the bomb struck his vehicle along Njumia and Arra in the Sambisa forest, on March 27, killing him instantly.
The sources said that Awana had planted bombs in strategic positions to fortify his camp within the Sambisa Forest, but little did he knew that he plotted it against himself, which blew him and shattered his body into pieces.
Since 2022, Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province have carried out more than 90 indiscriminate attacks in the North East using IED.
The insurgents resorted to the use of IEDs as a result of the increased and sustained pressure from the joint efforts of the Nigerian Army, Air Task Force, Operation Hadin Kai with support of the combined troops of the Multination Joint Task Force (MNJTF), Niger, Cameroon and Chad in the Lake Chad sub-region.