The Nigerian military offered few details on what types of planes or bombs were used in the Tuesday strike, but said the air force carried out a “most unprecedented and spectacular air raid” that killed about 300 militants and “fatally wounded” the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau.
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Barnawi’s appointment was contained in a magazine issued by the ISIL to which Boko Haram pledged allegiance in March past year.
Kerry, visiting the cities of Sokoto and Abuja, is meeting with President Buhari to discuss counterterrorism efforts, the Nigerian economy, the fight against corruption, and human rights issues.
The statement said the troops killed several of terrorists including two senior commanders that led the attack. There was no immediate reaction from the group, which communicates with the media only by videos. While their leader, so called “Abubakar Shekau”, is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders.
Of the 475,000 deemed at risk, 49,000 in Nigeria’s Borno state, Boko Haram’s heartland, will die this year if they do not receive treatment, according to the United Nations’ child agency, which is appealing for $308 million to cope with the crisis.
“Building public trust in government also requires cooperation from the military and law enforcement”.
Nigerian government officials say they’re in contact with the group.
“There is nothing more demoralizing, more destructive, and more disempowering to any citizen than the belief that the system is created to fail them”, Kerry said. “But extremism can’t be defeated through repression or fear”, he said. We know that the Chibok girls are held at the Shekau camp.
Outside pressure comes from Nigeria’s military, which cracked down on Boko Haram’s territory in the northeast after the country elected Muhammadu Buhari as president in 2015.
Boko Haram has spread its attacks from northeastern Nigeria, its traditional stronghold, to the neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
Boko Haram transforms “the most vulnerable among us into killers”, Mr Kerry said, describing how in its quest to destroy knowledge, the group destroys schools, burns books, murders teachers and kidnaps students.
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On Wednesday Kerry is scheduled to meet representatives of local NGOs helping to fight corruption – a priority of the Buhari administration – before flying to Saudi Arabia where he will discuss the Yemen crisis, the war in Syria and the global fight against the Islamic State group.
