In a 2014 raid on a secondary school in the town of Chibok, the terror group kidnapped 276 schoolgirls, of whom over 200 are still believed to be in captivity.
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The Nigerian Air Force carried out “the most unprecedented and spectacular air raid” while Shekau was praying on Friday, Islam’s holy day, at Taye village in the extremists’ Sambisa Forest holdout in northeast Nigeria, according to the statement signed by army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman. In the past, the Boko Haram leader has often come out weeks later to debunk claims of his death through video and audio messages.
Kerry noted that on Saturday Boko Haram fighters attacked a village near Chibok, killing 10 people and taking 13 girls and women hostage.
Abubakar Shekau “Those Boko Haram terrorists commanders confirmed dead include Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman, amongst others”, the army colonel wrote.
Shekau has also been embroiled in a leadership battle that may have resulted from the increasing ties between Boko Haram and the Islamic State.
Then, in September 2014, it again said Sehkau had been killed but later said that the man killed in 2014 was a Shekau impostor who went by the names Isa Damsaka, Bashir Konduga and Bashir Mohammed.
“The attack happened on Friday on Shekau’s camp”.
Boko Haram, which seeks to impose a strict Islamic law in Nigeria’s mainly-Muslim north, has killed some 20 000 people and forced at least 2.6 million others to flee their homes since 2009.
In talks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Kerry “made very, very strong commitments to the government that we are going to look at what we can do differently”, the official said, adding that Kerry had told his staff to look at ways to boost military cooperation with Nigeria.
Nigeria reported Tuesday that the leader of Boko Haram and several of his top commanders were killed or wounded in an airstrike, just as Secretary of State John F. Kerry arrived in the West African nation with a message that military action alone won’t break the terrorist outfit’s grip on the region.
Speaking in the northern city of Sokoto, Mr Kerry urged Nigeria to address the root causes of the Boko Haram insurgency. So, is the Nigerian Army saying Shekau is as good as dead, a repeat of the 2013 claim? The group is affiliated with the Islamic State, and those affiliates have proven to be more dependent on a charismatic leader than Al Qaeda affiliates, which are more decentralized and structured as local movements. Each time, Shekau has turned up in videos, apparently alive and well, after each announcement.
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Boko Haram fighters are seen in Nigeria.
