Boko Haram leader Abu Bakr al-Shekhaw committed suicide while fighting against a rival jihadist group called the Islamic State (ISWAF) in West Africa, the latter said in an audio recording released two weeks later. First reports of his death.
“Shekhaw wanted to be humiliated in the hereafter rather than humiliated on earth. He killed himself by setting off an explosive device,” the voice of Isab leader Abu Musab al-Barnawi in Kanouri appears to have been sent to the AFP, usually through a news release.
Boko Haram has not commented on the death of its leader, and the Nigerian military says it is investigating.
In his post, Iswab describes how his troops, sent to the Boko Haram lodge in the Sambisa forest, found Shekhaw sitting in his house and began fighting.
“He retreated and wandered in the bush for five days. Nevertheless, the militants [de l’Iswap] They kept looking for him until they found him, “said the voice.
After kicking him out of the bush, Iswab’s fighters invited him and his supporters to repent, but Shekhaw refused and killed himself, she continues.
Recognized by the Islamic State, Iswaab was born in 2016 from a rift with Boko Haram, which has been accused of massacring Muslim civilians in particular. After gaining strength, it is now the dominant jihadi group in northeastern Nigeria, increasing the scale of attacks against the Nigerian military.
“We are very happy,” the voice said, adding that Shekhaw was “guilty of unimaginable terrorism and atrocities.”
“Probably not finished”
This rise of the group now appears to be on the verge of infiltrating Boko Haram militants and seizing its former territories, which worries analysts because it means ISWab now has a large area under its control. Control, but more fighters and weapons available.
The hostilities between Boko Haram and Iswaab also benefited the Nigerian military.
“If Iswa persuades Sheikh’s forces to join it, it will control the majority of the enemy forces, and it will be in most areas beyond government control in the Northeast,” explains Bekawi Consulting, a specialized risk assessment firm in Africa.
However, Ishwab will have to pacify or fight other Boko Haram factions loyal to Sheikh, who still have important forts, especially in the Kosa, Pulka, and Mandara mountains and on both sides of the border with Cameroon in Niger.
“It may not be over. Ezwab must submit or persuade these groups to merge with it and fully coordinate its control,” a security source said.
Since 2019, the Nigerian military has withdrawn from villages and small bases, criticizing a strategy of seeking refuge in “super camps” because it allows jihadists to move freely through the countryside.
After the capture of the Zambezi jungle, Ishwab sent messages to residents of the Lake Chad region on the borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, welcoming its self-proclaimed “Khalifa” fisherman Sallaw Arsika explained. From Baga, a part of the lake.
Residents in the area were driven out of the Chad Islands by Iswab, who they accused of spying on behalf of the military. Al-Barnawi said they could return to the fish and trade, with the assurance that they would not be harmed after the tax was paid, the fisherman said.
Since the uprising of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram began in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria, the conflict has killed nearly 36,000 people and displaced two million.
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