Chadian authorities have arrested the youngest son of Boko Haram’s founder, who allegedly led a terrorist cell in the country, according to intelligence sources and a former insurgent.
Security forces detained Muslim Mohammed Yusuf along with five other suspected militants. His father, radical preacher Mohammed Yusuf, founded Boko Haram in Nigeria several years before Muslim’s birth.
For nearly 15 years, the Islamist group has spread terror around the Lake Chad region, launching increasingly audacious assaults on villages and military bases.
Police in Chad confirmed arresting six Boko Haram members but did not verify whether one was Yusuf’s son. However, a Nigerian intelligence source in the region told AFP that the detainees formed a six-man jihadist cell led by Muslim, the youngest son of the late Boko Haram founder.
The source noted that the group belonged to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction that split from Boko Haram over ideological rifts. He added that Yusuf, now 18, was an infant when his father was killed in a 2009 military crackdown that left around 800 people dead.
Photos obtained by AFP after the arrests in Chad showed a slim young man in a blue tracksuit, bearing a strong resemblance to Yusuf, standing among older detainees. Yusuf, who uses the alias Abdrahman Mahamat Abdoulaye, is also the younger brother of ISWAP leader Habib Yusuf, known as Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi.
A former lieutenant of Mohammed Yusuf, who has since renounced Boko Haram, also confirmed the arrest, stating: “He and his team were arrested by Chadian security. They are six in number.”
Chadian police spokesman Paul Manga described the men as “bandits operating in the city… they are undocumented and members of Boko Haram”, adding that the arrests occurred “a few months ago”.
Nigeria’s counter-terrorism centre and national intelligence service have yet to respond to AFP’s request for comment.