The chief of Nigerian Air Force, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, recently said that they have killed about 300 Boko Haram fighters over the last week in a raid in Borno State.
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The Nigerian army said Tuesday it had fatally wounded terrorist group Boko Haram’s leader in an air attack, also killing several commanders. Among them is Abubakar Shekau, infamous head of Boko Haram.
In a statement, it said its planes had attacked the group inside the Sambisa forest in the country’s northeast on Friday.
However, Usman was silent on whether or not the affected Boko Haram leaders were among those on the 100 most wanted list of the group released by the military.
Nigeria’s military says it believes an air strike has fatally wounded Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and other commanders of the homegrown Islamic extremist movement. While their leader, so-called ‘Abubakar Shekau, ‘ is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders.
U.S secretary of state John Kerry has urged the Nigerian government to build trust with its people as a way of fighting corruption and religious extremism.
Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara, Deputy National Chairman of APC North West, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, and some religious leaders were all reportedly present during Kerry’s closed-door meeting with the Sultan at his palace.
The Obama administration has paid close attention to the fight against the militant group which has declared allegiance to Islamic State and destabilised a whole region by attacking Nigeria’s neighbours. In 2013, the United States government announced a reward of $7 million for Shekau’s location.
She told VOA last week that her daughter, Dorcas, was 15 years old in April 2014 when she was taken with almost 300 other girls from a secondary school in the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria.
In the last 18 months Boko Haram has lost most of the territory it had controlled after being pushed back in an offensive by the forces of Nigeria and its neighbours.
Nigeria has been battling Islamic sect Boko Haram for about 7 years now.
Even the girls and women are potential suspects; some are known to be used to kill. Hundreds of the girls and boys the jihadists kidnapped for use as sex slaves and child soldiers have escaped.
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Nigerian security analysts have suggested that the power struggle and recent battlefield defeats have dramatically weakened the group, making the prospect of negotiations with the government more likely.
