Nigeria’s military said it may have killed Abubakar Shekau, the disputed leader of the Boko Haram, during an air strike on the Sambisa forest in the northeastern state of Borno on August 19.
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“Their leader, so called “Abubakar Shekau”, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders”, the statement released on Tuesday from army spokesperson Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman added.
While addressing his men in Bama, Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar has said that about 300 Boko Haram terrorists were killed in raids carried out between 16 and 19 August.
It is not the first time the Nigerian army has reported the death of Shekau, who led a break-away faction of Boko Haram when the main bulk of the group declared allegiance to Isis. Several other Boko Haram fighters were wounded, as well.
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.
“Make no mistake, we do not have to be prisoners of these extremists, they can be eliminated”, Mr Kerry said. In Abuja, the Secretary will meet with a group of adolescent girls working to change community perceptions that devalue the role of girls in society.
The group further suggested that security agencies should exploit the trio’s unfettered access to Boko Haram terrorists to get to the girls. Many rescued captives, especially pregnant girls, are being shunned. It has been marked by deadly attacks and suicide bombings at schools, mosques and marketplaces and mass abductions including almost 300 schoolgirls taken from a remote school in northeastern Chibok town in April 2014. Dozens escaped but 218 remain missing.
Shekau was the leader of Boko Haram before ISIS, “appointed” Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the new leader of the sect.
Nigerian military has twice in the past claimed it killed the Boko Haram leader in previous operations, a claim which Shekau refuted in subsequent video releases.
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Kerry said it was the only way Nigeria’s battle against Boko Haram will succeed.
