The West Africa Wilayah, also known as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), is a self-described province of the Islamic State, encompassing Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and northern Cameroon. In March 2015, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to the Islamic State's caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and was made leader of IS' "West Africa Wilayah" (province). However, in August 2016, al-Baghdadi replaced Shekau with Abu Musab al-Barnawi because of Shekau's comparative extremism, leading to Shekau leaving IS and forming Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati wal Jihad, a splintergroup of Boko Haram loyalists. For four years, the two groups remained at peace and occasionally cooperated, but violence broke out between ISWAP and Boko Haram in 2021. In May 2021, ISWAP captured Sambisa Forest from Shekau's loyalists, and Shekau killed himself in a suicide bombing on 19 May 2021 rather than surrender to ISIL. On 26 May 2021, al-Barnawi declared Boko Haram dissolved and Shekau dead, but the latter's loyalists swore vengeance rather than submit, leading to a continued civil war between ISWAP and the remnants of Shekau's Boko Haram faction.
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