Authorities in Chad have reportedly arrested six suspected Boko Haram members, including Muslim Mohammed Yusuf, the youngest son of the late founder of the terrorist group, Mohammed Yusuf.
According to Nigerian intelligence sources operating in the Lake Chad region, the suspects were detained in N’Djamena during a recent counter-terrorism operation by Chadian security forces. The cell, reportedly led by the 18-year-old Yusuf, is believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a breakaway faction of Boko Haram.
“The team was headed by Muslim, the youngest son of the late Boko Haram founder,” a security source told AFP over the weekend.
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The young Yusuf, also known by the alias Abdrahman Mahamat Abdoulaye, was arrested alongside five other suspected jihadists. Photos seen by AFP following the arrest show a slender youth in a blue tracksuit standing among visibly older detainees, bearing a close resemblance to Yusuf.
Chadian police spokesman Paul Manga confirmed the arrests but described the suspects as “bandits operating in the city” who were undocumented and “members of Boko Haram.”
However, Nigerian intelligence assessments indicate the group is more likely part of ISWAP, which split from Boko Haram in 2016 over deep ideological rifts, particularly disagreements with former Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.
Further checks revealed that Muslim Yusuf is the younger brother of Habib Yusuf, also known as Abu Mus’ab al-Barnawi, the current leader of ISWAP. Their father, Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in Nigerian police custody in 2009 following a military crackdown that claimed the lives of approximately 800 people.
After Yusuf’s death, Abubakar Shekau assumed leadership of Boko Haram. Habib Yusuf initially served as a spokesperson for the group but later broke away, establishing ISWAP following frequent ideological clashes with Shekau.
A former Boko Haram fighter who has since renounced the group described Muslim Yusuf’s arrest as a “major symbolic victory” in the ongoing efforts to dismantle jihadist networks across the region.
Despite limited public knowledge about Muslim Yusuf, his family ties to two prominent terrorist figures have raised significant interest in his capture.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian military, in a June briefing, reported that over 14,000 terrorists and other criminals had been arrested in the past two years, alongside the recovery of hundreds of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
