LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) Nigeria’s military said Tuesday it believes an airstrike has “fatally wounded” Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and killed about 300 militants, but there was no way to confirm yet another claim of the death of Nigeria’s Islamic extremist leader.
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Barnawi’s appointment was contained in a magazine issued by the ISIL to which Boko Haram pledged allegiance in March previous year.
Kerry was scheduled to meet President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital, Abuja, later on Tuesday to discuss: the threat posed by Boko Haram; the nation’s troubled economy; as well as bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United States. It said lack of adequate information stopped either sides from addressing the issue.
It claims the group’s elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau, who has a bounty on his head, has been fatally wounded in the raids which were carried out on Friday. The forest has been Boko Haram’s chief hideout for several years, and is believed to be where it is keeping a group of girls kidnapped from a dormitory in Chibok in 2014, an incident that sparked outrage worldwide.
The announcement, which coincides with the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Sokoto, northern Nigeria, was met with suspicion by experts who pointed out that the Nigerian authorities had previously declared the death of Boko Haram’s leader.
He said this while giving a speech at the “Community Building and Countering Violent Extremism” event held at the Palace of the Sultan of Sokoto.
But the new administration argues its human rights record has improved significantly enough to lift the blockade.
Three months ago, the International Crisis Group argued that Boko Haram had been weakened and “put on the defensive” by a growing and coordinated military response by Nigeria and its neighbors. Congress needs to approve the deal. 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. A recent video of some of the girls confirmed they were with Shekau’s faction, as The Christian Science Monitor previously reported.
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Kerry “made very, very strong commitments to the (Nigerian) government that we are going to look at what we can do differently”, the official said, adding that the package for the aircraft was still being considered and needed congressional approval.
