Nigeria : Boko Haram Leader Abubakar Shekau Killed

The death of the leader of the Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram has been confirmed by a rival extremist faction that said it carried out the killing on the direct orders of Islamic State’s leadership. The Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), militant group said in an audio recording on Sunday, June 6, 2021 that Abubakar Shekau, leader of rival Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram died around May 18, 2021, after detonating explosives he was carrying while being pursued by fighters from the ISWAP. The ISWAP fighters had stormed the Sambisa forest, a swath of strategically important dense forest in Nigeria’s north-east, which was Shekau’s base.
According to the audio recording got by Reuters and the voice confirmed by two familiar sources to ISWAP, the leader Abu Musab al-Barnawi, could be heard saying, “Abubakar Shekau, God has judged him by sending him to heaven.” The information was also confirmed by the Nigerian intelligence report shared by a government official and Boko Haram researchers. The audio statement, first obtained by local media, is ISWAP’s first confirmation that its arch rival in the Lake Chad region has been killed.
Reuter reports that, the operation against Shekau was launched on the direct orders of the leadership of Isis in the Middle East, which is concerned by Boko Haram’s indiscriminate targeting of “believers.” An analyst, Bulama Bukarti, specialized in Boko Haram activities at the...