No fewer than six suspected members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have been killed following a premature Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonation in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State.
Security sources said the incident occurred at about 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Jubilaram, where the militants were reportedly assembling an explosive device.
The explosion came just hours after reports that joint U.S. forces and the Nigerian Army had eliminated a top ISWAP commander operating in the Lake Chad region.
According to the sources, the group of IED makers was led by a suspected bomb expert identified as Abu Umar, who was also killed in the blast alongside five other militants. Three additional members of the group sustained serious injuries.
Intelligence assessments indicate that the deceased were part of ISWAP’s IED-making cell operating within the Marte–Kerenoa–Wulgo axis, a known insurgent corridor in the Lake Chad Basin.
The explosion reportedly occurred while the device was being prepared, triggering a premature detonation that destroyed the site and caused multiple casualties.
The death of Abu Umar and other identified bomb-making specialists is believed to have significantly disrupted the group’s IED operations in the area.
The blast is also said to have affected an IED manufacturing hub located between Arinna Maimasallaci and Arinna Ciki, which may now be temporarily non-operational following the incident.
