an audio message posted on the organisation's Twitter account. Nigerian Army spokesperson Sami Usman Kukasheka said the pledge was a sign of weakness and that Shekau was like a "drowning man". That same day, five suicide bomb blasts left 54 dead and 143 wounded. On 12 March, ISIL's spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani released an audiotape in which he welcomed the pledge of allegiance, and described it as an expansion of the group's caliphate to West Africa. Following its declaration of loyalty to ISIL, Boko Haram was designated as the group's "West Africa Province" (Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP) while Shekau was appointed as its first vali (governor). Furthermore, ISIL started to support Boko Haram, but also began to interfere in its internal matters. For example, ISIL's central leadership attempted to reduce Boko Haram's brutality toward civilians and internal critics, as Shekau's ideology was "too extreme even for the Islamic State". On 24 March, residents of Damasak, Borno, said that Boko Haram had taken more than 400 women and children from the town as they fled from coalition forces who retook the area and found a mass grave of Boko Haram victims. On 27 March, the Nigerian army captured Gwoza, which was believed to be the location of Boko Haram headquarters. On election day, 28 March, Boko Haram extremists killed 41 people, including a legislator, to discourage hundreds from voting. In March, Boko Haram lost control of the Borno towns of Bama and Gwoza (believed to be their headquarters) to the Nigerian Army. The Nigerian authorities said that they had taken back 11 of the 14 districts previously controlled by Boko Haram. In April, four Boko Haram camps in the Sambisa Forest were overrun by the Nigerian military who freed nearly 300 females. Boko Haram forces were believed to have retreated to the Mandara Mountains, along the Cameroon–Nigeria border. On 16 March, the Nigerian Army said that it had recaptured Bama. On 27 March, the day before the Nigerian presidential election, the Nigerian Army announced that it had recaptured the town of Gwoza from Boko Haram. By April, the Nigerian military was reported to have retaken most of the areas previously controlled by Boko Haram in Northeastern Nigeria, except for Sambisa Forest in Borno. In May, the Nigerian military announced that they had released about 700 women from camps in Sambisa Forest. On 12 July, two female suicide bombers