The militia were targeting over 890 herdsmen and 5,000 livestock rescued from the group’s captivity along the Nigerian-Cameroonian border and also attacked a military base on the fringes of Sambisa forest, army spokesman Sani Kukasheka Usman said.
Advertisement
Abuja – Military authorities said last night that following a major air onslaught on major remaining camps of Boko Haram terrorists in Sambisa forest, some of the groups’ commanders have been killed.
News of the raid, which took place Saturday in a village about 12 miles from Chibok, comes almost a month after the Nigerian army claimed to have completely eliminated Boko Haram in its stronghold of northeastern Nigeria. The military has said in the past that Boko Haram was using look-alike fighters to impersonate the supposedly dead leader.
“Those Boko Haram terrorists commanders confirmed dead include Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman, amongst others, while their leader, the so-called “Abubakar Shekau”, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders”.
“While their leader, so called Abubakar Shekau, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders” adding that “several other terrorists were also wounded”. “Any breach will no longer be acceptable”, a statement by presidential spokesman Femi Adesina quoted Buhari as telling visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a closed-door meeting late Tuesday. Kerry, speaking Tuesday morning in northern Sokoto city, made no reference to the army’s report.
Shekau started the uprising in 2009 that has killed 20,000 people, driven more than 2.2 million from their homes, and spread across Nigeria’s borders.
Boko Haram Islamists have killed 10 people and abducted 13 others in a raid on a village near the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok where the militants kidnapped over 200 schoolgirls in 2014, locals told AFP Sunday.
Advertisement
On the Boko Haram insurgency, President Buhari thanked the U.S for both hard and soft military help. Shekau has insisted he is still in charge.
