The Nigerian Army on Tuesday said it killed key commanders of Islamist militant group Boko Haram, with its factional leader Abubakar Shekau “fatally wounded” in an airstrike.
The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement Tuesday that the terrorists were killed on Friday in a major air strike inside the Sambisa forest in Borno State.
Col. Usman noted that the raid was carried out when the insurgents were performing Friday rituals at Taye village, Gombale within Sambisa forest.
The statement noted that their leader Mr. Shekau, was leading his group in performing the Friday prayers.
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Usman listed the killed Boko Haram leaders to include Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman.
The statement read: “In what one could describe as the most unprecedented and spectacular air raid, we have just confirmed that as a result of the interdiction efforts of the Nigerian Air Force, some key leaders of the Boko Haram terrorists have been killed while others were fatally wounded.
“The air interdiction took place last week Friday 19th August 2016, while the terrorists were performing Friday rituals at Taye village,
“Those Boko Haram terrorists 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”.
Abubakar Shekau, who has led that insurgency since 2009, has been pronounced dead several times in the past years, with the military repeatedly claiming credit for his death, but the sect denounced the claims each time saying its leader remained alive.
He has since then pledged allegiance to ISIS and changed the group’s official name to the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Boko Haram, is fighting an insurgency against Nigerian authorities, predominantly focused in the country’s northeast regions of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, in a bid to create an Islamic state.
The extremist group has lost much of the territory it had held 18 months ago in the face of a bolstered Nigerian military offensive against it in the majority-Muslim north. But during that time, Boko Haram has still waged attacks that have killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds.