“Nigerian Air Force raid kills Boko Haram terrorists commanders…”
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Usman also said three Boko Haram commanders – Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman – were confirmed dead with several others wounded.
But a statement from army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman said Shekau was believed to be “fatally wounded”.
Nigeria’s military said 300 insurgents in total were killed including several senior fighters in a raid on north-eastern Borno state. The man, whose name was given as Mudasiru Jibrin, was arrested on July 17 at a Boko Haram detention centre uncovered by the secret police operatives in Kano.
A brief statement Tuesday does not say how the military got this information.
Speaking at a press conference in the northern city of Sokoto, Kerry praised Nigeria for reclaiming swathes of territory from Boko Haram and releasing thousands of hostages over the past year.
The news came on the same day U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss Islamic extremism and regional security.
Observers don’t expect confirmation of Shekau’s death from the terrorist group, which only communicates in periodic videos sent to the media. Under his leadership the militants have killed tens of thousands of people and carried out brutal violence in northeastern Nigeria, notably the abduction of 300 young girls from a Chibok school in 2014.
The group, seeking to impose strict Islamic law in the country’s mainly Muslim north, has killed some 20,000 people and displaced as many as 2.6 million others who have been forced to flee their homes since 2009.
“We have been working with them to make sure they can afford it, and they know how to use it”, the official said.
Boko Haram poses a steady threat to communities in the north-east of Nigeria and has also launched offensives in neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon. Dozens escaped but 218 remain missing.
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Boko Haram, which previous year pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been on the defensive in recent months after President Buhari revamped the military’s counterterrorism strategy.
