Sani Shuwaram was a top commander of the

Islamic State's West Africa Province Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

(ISWAP), one of the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

's non-Middle Eastern branches. Non-IS sources claimed that he was sworn in as the wali of ISWAP in November 2021 by one of ISWAP's provincial judges, Bukar Arge, in an ISWAP camp in the village of Kurnawa in the

Lake Chad Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...

area,

Borno State Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Two previous ISWAP top commanders,

Abu Musab al-Barnawi Abu Musab al-Barnawi, born Habib Yusuf, is or was a Nigerian Islamic militant who served as the leader of the Islamic State's branch in West Africa (ISWAP) between August 2016 and March 2019, and again around May 2021. He also served in various ...

and Malam Bako were killed within a few days of one another by the

Nigerian Army The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army. History Formation The Nigerian ...

. Shuwaram was appointed by Abu Musab al-Barnawi's interim committee following a command directive from the Islamic State's main branch in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. Shuwaram was killed in February 2022 by airstrikes by Nigerian Air Force and is expected to be replaced by Bako Gorgore.

References

Year of birth missing 20th-century births 2022 deaths Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members Leaders of Islamic terror groups Boko Haram members Nigerian Islamists Deaths by airstrike {{Terrorism-bio-stub