Chadian authorities have arrested Muslim Mohammed Yusuf, the 18-year-old son of Boko Haram’s late founder Mohammed Yusuf, along with five suspected accomplices believed to be members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). The arrests were revealed by a Nigerian intelligence source to AFP on Monday, which also published a photo of the detainees. One of them bore a “striking resemblance” to Mohammed Yusuf, the radical preacher who established Boko Haram in northern Nigeria in the early 2000s. He was killed in 2009 during a military crackdown in Borno State that left hundreds dead.
Muslim Yusuf, who was still a baby at the time of his father’s death, allegedly grew up to join ISWAP—a Boko Haram offshoot—under the leadership of his older brother, Abu Musab al-Barnawi. Chadian police confirmed they had arrested a group of “bandits” and “Boko Haram members,” though they stopped short of verifying the detainees’ identities. Boko Haram and ISWAP remain among the deadliest extremist groups in Africa. Since 2009, the insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced over two million across Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger.
In June, at least 12 civilians were killed when a suspected female suicide bomber linked to Boko Haram detonated explosives in a crowded market in northeastern Nigeria—an attack that highlighted the group’s continued threat despite years of regional military campaigns. The arrest of Yusuf’s son is being viewed by security analysts as a symbolic blow to the group’s leadership network, even as the insurgency persists in border regions.
