Military says air raid “fatally wounds” Boko Haram leader
lagos, nigeria» 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.
A statement does not say how the military got the information but identifies other commanders as “confirmed dead” in an air raid Friday.
Nigerian security forces have at least three times in the past declared that they have killed or fatally wounded Shekau, only to have him resurface in video and audio recordings. The military has said that Boko Haram was using look-alike fighters to impersonate the supposedly dead leader.
The Nigerian Air Force carried out “the most unprecedented and spectacular air raid” while Shekau was praying Friday, Islam’s holy day, at Taye village in the extremists’ Sambisa Forest holdout in northeast Nigeria, according to the statement signed by army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman.
“Boko Haram terrorist commanders confirmed dead include Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman, amongst others. While their leader, so-called ‘Abubakar Shekau,’ is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders. Several other terrorists were also wounded,” he said.
A separate Air Force statement said the raid killed 300 militants and was a result of human intelligence and reconnaissance indicating key Boko Haram commanders were gathering for a meeting.
dibaga camp, iraq » A s the Islamic State loses ground in Iraq, the militants are showing strains in their rule over areas they still control, growing more brutal, killing deserters and relying on younger and younger recruits, according to residents The statements came the same day who fled battleground territories. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met in The accounts point to the difficulties the Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, with President extremist group faces as Iraqi forces, Muhammadu Buhari to discuss Islamic backed by the United States, prepare for an extremism and regional security. Kerry, assault on Mosul, the largest city still in the speaking Tuesday morning in the city of militants’ hands. For months, Iraqi troops, Sokoto, made no reference to the army’s militias and Kurdish fighters have been report. clawing back territory town by town, making
Kerry praised the Sultan of Sokoto, their way toward the northern city. spiritual leader of Nigeria’s Muslims, for In the latest areas recaptured, Iraqi his work preaching tolerance and bringing troops over the past month took a clump of together interfaith groups “to do the villages near a key military base south of hard work of pushing back against extremism.” Mosul that they plan to use as a hub for the He called also for empathy assault. Residents of the communities, even for former Boko Haram fighters. which lie strung along bends in the Tigris
“Breaking the cycle of violence requires River, say that in the preceding weeks, the treating those who escape or defect militants ruling them had seemed to be from Boko Haram, and particularly scrambling to keep control. those who were abducted against their In Qayara, which is the main town in the will, with sensitivity as they return to area and remains in Islamic State hands, beheadings their old communities,” Kerry said. and extrajudicial killings that previously Many rescued captives, especially pregnant were occasional became commonplace girls, are being shunned. in a hunt for spies and deserters, said
Kerry noted that Boko Haram fighters Jarjis Muhammad Hajaj, who was among Saturday attacked a village near Chibok, thousands of residents who fled fighting in killing 10 people and taking 13 girls and the area and now live in the Dibaga Camp for women hostage. Chibok, in northeastern displaced people in Kurdish-run territory. Nigeria, is where nearly 300 schoolgirls “They started making raids on houses, arresting were abducted from a school in people and beheading them,” he said. April 2014. Dozens of the kidnapped Hajaj said the group’s fighters appeared girls escaped, but 218 remain missing. increasingly nervous as they watched news
A video showing dozens of the girls on of Islamic State losses elsewhere. Sunday said Shekau is willing to negotiate Their ranks also appeared to turn more to a prisoner swap for detained Boko younger, less experienced men. At one Haram commanders. point, almost all the militants guarding the
Buhari is under increasing pressure to streets were teenagers, he said. rescue or negotiate the girls’ release. The reliance on younger fighters in smaller
Shekau started the uprising in 2009 communities could be a sign of overstretched that has killed 20,000 people, driven manpower as the group’s more more than 2.2 million from their homes, veteran militants redeploy to Mosul or to spread across Nigeria’s borders and, in neighboring Syria. Other factors could also Kerry’s words, “flung some 7 million Nigerians be in play, like difficulties in finding new recruits into hunger, thirst, and desperate and the effect of desertions, which need.” Kurdish officials have said are on the rise.