Nigeria military says news of Abubakar Shekau’s demise being probed

Last updated on May 27th, 2021 at 04:17 pm

Nigeria’s military says it is probing into reports of the demise of the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

Reports say that the Boko Haram leader died after blowing himself up in a bid to avoid capture by a rival terrorist gang.

Since past reports claiming Shekau’s death have proved to be false, this news has met suspicion by the Nigerians.

However, the latest on Abubakar Shekau’s death this week can be said as the most widely believed claim about the demise of the Boko Haram leader in the past five years.

The United States, on the other hand, is not ready to declare the terror group’s leader dead as it says that it hasn’t been able to independently verify these reports. The U.S. continues to monitor the situation and will share the facts, once established.

Shekau reportedly blew himself up by a body-strapped explosive after he and his men were surrounded by a rival terror outfit Islamic State of West Africa Province. Reportedly, a fierce gun battle was also heard of in his Sambisa Forest hideout.   

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People in Nigeria are of the opinion that the death of Boko Haram’s leader will reduce the insecurity they have in the country.   

Security experts, on the other hand, are skeptical as they say that it is too early to celebrate.

Abubakar Shekau has been the head of the organization that has killed more than 30,000 people since 2009. The terror outfit has forced about two million people to flee their homes and has brought up one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

ISWAP was a part of Shekau’s group prior to its split five years ago. It pledged allegiance to ISIL (ISIS). The split was due to religious ideological disagreements over the killing of innocents by Boko Haram, to which ISWAP objected.

A new round of fighting started in April.