In a statement released on Wednesday, July 22, the Nigerian Army claimed to have killed the chief photographer of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a man identified as Abu Salim al-Barnawi. Analysis of the evidence, however, shows that the images supplied to back this claim were originally published in February 2020. Also, the Nigerian Army had released a picture of the same terrorist in June 2019, claiming to have killed him then as well.
According to the statement signed by Mohammed Goni, Operation Hadin Kai spokesperson, Abu Salim, “a notorious Boko Haram/ISWAP raid commander turned chief photographer and propaganda operative,” was killed “during the failed terrorist attack on a military location last week [July 12, 2026]”. It claimed he was killed alongside other members of ISWAP’s mobile media team, including Abu Umar Khattab and Abu Khalid Usman.
“The terrorist group has now been compelled to acknowledge his death through the publication of an obituary, exposing yet another significant loss within its dwindling ranks,” the statement continued.
“Intelligence indicates that Abu Salim al-Barnawi previously led cross-border terrorist raids into Cameroon before being reassigned to the group’s media wing, where he was responsible for photographing and filming terrorist attacks, producing propaganda, and glorifying the group’s atrocities in an attempt to recruit impressionable individuals and deceive the public.”
The Nigerian Army wasn’t the first to make this claim.
Four pictures accompanied the Army’s statement on X (five on Facebook), three of which were screenshots from a video that had been circulating earlier on social media.
On the afternoon of July 21, X account usman (@secmxx) — described in the bio as an OSINT analyst — posted a three-minute-long video, which he described as an obituary of Abu Salim released by the Boko Haram terror group. “He was smoked last week by the Nigerian army when the terrorist group attacked a Nigerian military camp,” he stated.
The following morning, less than four hours before the Army published its statement, Zagazola (@ZagazOlaMakama) — described in the bio as a security analyst — reposted the same video with a longer narration.
“Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the terrorist group circulated an obituary announcing the death of Abu Salim al-Barnawi, confirming he was among the fighters neutralised by Nigerian troops during the encounter [last week],” the account wrote.
The claims have been amplified by multiple social media accounts and media outlets, including BBC Hausa and Pidgin, Punch Newspaper, Channels TV, Daily Post Nigeria, Sahara Reporters, and others.
Old video
As established in a fact-check published by Premium Times on July 22, a closer look at the three-minute obituary video reveals inconsistencies with the Nigerian Army’s version of events.
One, a note at the end of the video contains the information المكتب الإعلامي لجماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد جهادي الثانية ١٤٤١هـ (The Media Office of the Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad, Jumada al-Thani 1441 AH), stating where the video originated from and when it was created.
The People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad is the translated name of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), referring to the Boko Haram faction previously led by Abubakar Shekau. This faction is different from ISWAP, which the Nigerian Army claims Abu Salim was a member of.
The logo introducing a longer version of the video also indicates clearly that the video was produced by JAS, as it contains the words “Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna…” This is consistent with previous videos released by the JAS Boko Haram faction and is different from how ISWAP introduces its videos. The addition of the English words “in West Africa” may have misled people watching to think the material is from the Islamic State West Africa Province.
The date stated in the video, Jumada al-Thani 1441 AH, is a reference to the Islamic calendar, which is based on the lunar year, with AH meaning After Hijrah (the year Prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina). The date corresponds to between January 26 and February 24, 2020. Various counter-insurgency operations by the Nigerian military, leading to the killing of terrorists in their hideouts, happened in this period, though it is not clear which one led to Abu Salim’s death.
Killing the same terrorist twice
A longer version of the video, which lasts over seven minutes, sheds more light on the events surrounding it.
The video was obtained from a conflict researcher, who preferred to remain anonymous and confirmed that it was released by the terror group in February 2020, around which time he’d downloaded it.
Checking the metadata of the original file sent through cloud storage using pic.io, we confirmed the creation date as February 12, 2020. This means the video could not have been referring to events happening six years later in 2026.
The longer video suggests that the production is part of a series called إما النصر أو إما الشهادة (Either Victory or Martyrdom), created to memorialise 10 members of the insurgent group, including: Abu Bakr al-Bamawi, Abu Sufyan al-Maidughuri, Umar al-Alamiy, Abu Ibrahim al-Ansari, Abu Amir Al-Bamawi, Abu Salim al-Alamiy, Abu Jalibib al-Fidmi, Abu Uthman al-Alim Fatiri, Abu Umar al-Barnawi, and Zakir Al-Ansari.
At least two of the late insurgents, Umar al-Alamiy and Abu Salim al-Alamiy (who is referred to as Abu Salim al-Barnawi in the recent claims), appear to have been members of the media crew, judging by their nom de guerre “al-Alamiy” (media personality).
By conducting reverse image searches on multiple frames in the video, we discovered a statement from the Nigerian Army from June 10, 2019, which included a picture of Abu Salim al-Alamiy, again claiming that he had been killed (also again claiming he was an ISWAP member).
“The so called Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) admits to the neutralization of 9 key Media Personalities by Gallant Troops of the Nigerian Army (NA),” the Army stated.
“The terrorist group is known for its online media propaganda and quest to maintain a virtual caliphate. The annihilation of members of its media team further confirms that the NA has decimated the group and they no longer have freedom of action.”
The statement listed the nine terrorists as Abu Hurayra al-Barnawi, Ali al-Ghalam al-Kajiri, Abu Musab Muhammed Mustafa al-Maiduguri, Abu Abdullah Ali al-Barnawi, Abu Musa al-Camerooni, Ahmed al-Muhajir, Abu Ali al-Bamawi, Abu Khubayb bin Ahmed al-Barnawi, and Abu al-Qa’qa’ al-Maiduguri.
The name “Abu Salim” is not mentioned. However, the statement clearly contains his picture.
It is not the first time the Nigerian Army will be caught sharing old pictures as evidence of a successful counterinsurgency operation.
HumAngle established in a fact-check published in 2021 that the Army used a month-old picture to illustrate an operation against ISWAP insurgents in the Mobbar area of Borno, northeastern Nigeria.
The Army had also infamously declared former Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau killed multiple times between 2009 and 2016 before he was eventually confirmed dead in 2021.