Kano, Nigeria-Two militant groups have for weeks been engaged in deadly clashes in their northeast Nigeria strongholds according to security sources and residents, who said hundreds of fighters had died.
Boko Haram militants have been fighting government troops for almost 14 years  and have also been fighting against rival militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group, who emerged in 2016.  Clashes initially started over ideological differences, with ISWAP objecting to Boko Haram’s indiscriminate killings of Muslims. 
But fighting between the two has escalated in recent weeks especially at Gerere and Juma’a Toro villages on the fringes of the Lake Chad in Abadam district near the border with Niger, an area where both groups assert influence. “We are aware of the fighting going on between the terrorists which is good for us, so we are just watching and keeping an eye on how it unfolds,” a Nigerian intelligence source told AFP. “It is hard to give a toll from both sides but the numbers are indeed huge. We are talking of more than 200 dead in Juma’a Toro alone,” said the source, who asked not to be identified.