Abubakar Shekau, the head of the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, had killed himself, rival Islamist militants said in an audiotape.

According to recordings received by news agencies from Boko Haram on Sunday, the group's leader Abubakar Shekau killed himself in a confrontation against rival jihadist fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), two weeks after reports emerged that he had died. 
 
Watch:

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/nigerias-boko-haram-leader-kills-self-says-rival-militant-group-iswap-389860/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"Shekau preferred to be humiliated in the hereafter to getting humiliated on earth. He killed himself instantly by detonating an explosive," a voice speaking in the Kanuri language resembling that of ISWAP leader Abu Musab Al-Barnawi said.

Boko Haram has yet to issue an official statement regarding the death of their leader, who led a decade-long war in northeast Nigeria. 
 
He has previously been reported killed several times, only to reappear.

Shekau's Boko Haram faction and fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province had been battling in northeastern Borno state, where ISWAP militants have become the dominant force in Nigeria's more than decade-long jihadist insurgency.

Shekau made international headlines in 2014 when his men abducted 300 schoolgirls in Chibok. He has been previously been reported dead several times.

After a series of clashes, Shekau and some of his fighters were surrounded on Wednesday by ISWAP jihadists in Boko Haram's Sambisa forest stronghold, where they demanded he surrenders, one intelligence source said.

Boko Haram carried out bombings, kidnappings, and jail breakouts across the region while Shekau was in power. It began overrunning communities in 2014 in an attempt to establish an Islamic State governed by Sharia law. 
 
More than 30,000 people have been slaughtered and approximately 2 million people have been dislocated since he took over the terrorist group.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

Abubakar Shekau, the head of the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, had killed himself, rival Islamist militants said in an audiotape. According to recordings received by news agencies from Boko Haram on Sunday, the group's leader Abubakar Shekau killed himself in a confrontation against rival jihadist fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), two weeks after reports emerged that he had died.

Abubakar Shekau, the head of the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, had killed himself, rival Islamist militants said in an audiotape. According to recordings received by news agencies from Boko Haram on Sunday, the group's leader Abubakar Shekau killed himself in a confrontation against rival jihadist fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), two weeks after reports emerged that he had died. Watch: "Shekau preferred to be humiliated in the hereafter to getting humiliated on earth. He killed himself instantly by detonating an explosive," a voice speaking in the Kanuri language resembling that of ISWAP leader Abu Musab Al-Barnawi said. Boko Haram has yet to issue an official statement regarding the death of their leader, who led a decade-long war in northeast Nigeria. He has previously been reported killed several times, only to reappear. Shekau's Boko Haram faction and fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province had been battling in northeastern Borno state, where ISWAP militants have become the dominant force in Nigeria's more than decade-long jihadist insurgency. Shekau made international headlines in 2014 when his men abducted 300 schoolgirls in Chibok. He has been previously been reported dead several times. After a series of clashes, Shekau and some of his fighters were surrounded on Wednesday by ISWAP jihadists in Boko Haram's Sambisa forest stronghold, where they demanded he surrenders, one intelligence source said. Boko Haram carried out bombings, kidnappings, and jail breakouts across the region while Shekau was in power. It began overrunning communities in 2014 in an attempt to establish an Islamic State governed by Sharia law. More than 30,000 people have been slaughtered and approximately 2 million people have been dislocated since he took over the terrorist group. (With inputs from agencies)

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau killed himself, says Islamic State West African Province

Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau killed himself in a fight against rival jihadist fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Reports of Abubakar's death had emerged two weeks ago and now the ISWAP has confirmed it.

Nigeria’s Boko Haram leader 'killed self,' says rival militant group ISWAP

By: Jideofor Adibe

Last month marked ten years since Mohammed Yusuf, founder of Boko Haram, died in police detention. His death led to the radicalisation of the sect and a declaration of Jihad against the Nigerian state.

In an earlier paper on the sect I argued that before 2009, its operations were more or less peaceful, but that it was radicalised in 2009 after a confrontation with Nigerian security agencies. The police cracked down on the group setting off an armed uprising in Bauchi State, Northern Nigeria.

Opinions differ on the reasons for the government clampdown. But some believe that the government intervened based on intelligence that the group was arming itself.

The crackdown led to an uprising that soon spread to other parts of northeastern Nigeria and 800 members of the group were killed by the Nigerian security services. Yusuf was arrested during this period but died in police detention. The police claimed that he died while trying to escape.

Yusuf’s successor, Abubakar Shekau, vowed to exact revenge on the Nigerian government. A violent campaign against the state was launched. A year later in 2010, Shekau sought to make it a Jihad against Christians.

In a message he reportedly broadcast over the Internet in July 2010, Shekau was reported as saying:

This is a message to President Goodluck Jonathan and all who represent the Christians. We are declaring a holy war! We will fight the Christians, because everyone knows what they have done to the Muslims!

It is now estimated that by 2018 Boko Haram had been linked to the deaths of over 37,000 people.

The United Nations Children’s Fund has reported that the group has kidnapped more than 1,000 children in northeastern Nigeria since 2013 to spread fear and show power. Similarly, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre believes that over two million people have been displaced in the North East as a result of Boko Haram’s terror activities.

Boko Haram has survived thanks to its ability to reinvent itself, change tactics, and adopt different strategies. Going forward, conventional military solutions will not work on their own. Other interventions, such as de-radicalisation and rehabilitation are necessary.

Fighting the sect

The government of Goodluck Jonathan (2010-2015) adopted measures to combat the group including declaring a state of emergency in the three most affected Northern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa. It also initiated a four-nation regional force that included Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

These measures had varying degrees of success. They would appear to work initially because Boko Haram would lay low for a while, only for it to adopt a different terror strategy.

The Jonathan government even suggested amnesty but Shekau reportedly mocked the offer, saying, Surprisingly the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon.

Before he issued this audio statement the military had claimed to have killed him.

Some of the factors that affected the fight against Boko Haram, especially under the Jonathan government, were pervasive conspiracy theories that played on the country’s fault lines of religion, ethnicity and regionalism.

For instance, many supporters of Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria, believed that Boko Haram was created by the Northern political class to undermine Jonathan’s government.

In the same vein, according to many Muslims in the North, the Jonathan government was either fighting the group halfheartedly or propping it up in order to depopulate the North ahead of the 2015 election.

The conspiracy theories probably played a role in the Jonathan administration’s lethargic handling of the kidnapping of 276 girls from a Chibok boarding school in April 2014.

What was obvious was that Boko Haram had become a menace. By the beginning of 2015, the group reportedly controlled about 20 local government areas, a territory the size of Belgium.

In 2015, when Muhammadu Buhari, a Northern Fulani Muslim and retired Army General, defeated Jonathan in the election, he gave Nigerian military chiefs three months to defeat Boko Haram. This was probably based on the wrong assumption that fighting terrorism was just like conventional warfare.

In December of that year, his government claimed it had recovered all territories previously held by Boko Haram, saying it had “technically defeated” the group. However, there has recently been an upsurge in the sect’s activities. It is now armed with better weapons and controls four of ten zones in northern Borno state near Lake Chad.

What seems obvious is that Boko Haram has shown the capacity to reinvent itself: it has evolved from being a group fighting the Nigerian state, to targeting Christians, attacking Muslims it regards as infidels and collaborators, and now, taking the fight to the military.

For instance, in December 2018, it sacked two military bases – a naval base and a multinational joint task force post – in the fishing town of Baga after a fierce battle.

The group claims that its ultimate aim is to establish a caliphate where it can rule according to its version of Islamic law.

Meanwhile, the Buhari government continues to live in denial, maintaining its posture that it has “technically defeated” the group.

Boko Haram today

Over the years, different factions have emerged. One of the earliest splinter groups was Ansaru, which emerged in 2012 after Boko Haram attacked Kano city killing about 185 civilians, most of them Muslims.

Today, Boko Haram is believed to be made up of at least two main factions, one led by Shekau and the other, known as the Islamic State West Africa Province, led by Abu Abdullah Ibn Umar al-Barnawi who is said to be one of the sons of Boko Haram founder Mohamed Yusuf. However, there appear to be two people with the same name or aliases, one of whom is not linked to Yusuf.

It is obvious that given the nature of Boko Haram, military solutions will not work on their own. A robust programme of amnesty, de-radicalisation and rehabilitation will have to go hand-in-hand with counterinsurgency and military solutions. All told, it will not be an easy victory for the Nigerian government.

(Jideofor Adibe is a professor of International Relations and Political Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi.)

(This article was originally published on The Conversation. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-boko-haram-has-evolved-over-the-past-ten-years-126436">Read the original article</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) &nbsp;

By: Jideofor Adibe Last month marked ten years since Mohammed Yusuf, founder of Boko Haram, died in police detention. His death led to the radicalisation of the sect and a declaration of Jihad against the Nigerian state.

By: Jideofor Adibe Last month marked ten years since Mohammed Yusuf, founder of Boko Haram, died in police detention. His death led to the radicalisation of the sect and a declaration of Jihad against the Nigerian state. In an earlier paper on the sect I argued that before 2009, its operations were more or less peaceful, but that it was radicalised in 2009 after a confrontation with Nigerian security agencies. The police cracked down on the group setting off an armed uprising in Bauchi State, Northern Nigeria. Opinions differ on the reasons for the government clampdown. But some believe that the government intervened based on intelligence that the group was arming itself. The crackdown led to an uprising that soon spread to other parts of northeastern Nigeria and 800 members of the group were killed by the Nigerian security services. Yusuf was arrested during this period but died in police detention. The police claimed that he died while trying to escape. Yusuf’s successor, Abubakar Shekau, vowed to exact revenge on the Nigerian government. A violent campaign against the state was launched. A year later in 2010, Shekau sought to make it a Jihad against Christians. In a message he reportedly broadcast over the Internet in July 2010, Shekau was reported as saying: This is a message to President Goodluck Jonathan and all who represent the Christians. We are declaring a holy war! We will fight the Christians, because everyone knows what they have done to the Muslims! It is now estimated that by 2018 Boko Haram had been linked to the deaths of over 37,000 people. The United Nations Children’s Fund has reported that the group has kidnapped more than 1,000 children in northeastern Nigeria since 2013 to spread fear and show power. Similarly, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre believes that over two million people have been displaced in the North East as a result of Boko Haram’s terror activities. Boko Haram has survived thanks to its ability to reinvent itself, change tactics, and adopt different strategies. Going forward, conventional military solutions will not work on their own. Other interventions, such as de-radicalisation and rehabilitation are necessary. Fighting the sect The government of Goodluck Jonathan (2010-2015) adopted measures to combat the group including declaring a state of emergency in the three most affected Northern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa. It also initiated a four-nation regional force that included Niger, Chad and Cameroon. These measures had varying degrees of success. They would appear to work initially because Boko Haram would lay low for a while, only for it to adopt a different terror strategy. The Jonathan government even suggested amnesty but Shekau reportedly mocked the offer, saying, Surprisingly the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon. Before he issued this audio statement the military had claimed to have killed him. Some of the factors that affected the fight against Boko Haram, especially under the Jonathan government, were pervasive conspiracy theories that played on the country’s fault lines of religion, ethnicity and regionalism. For instance, many supporters of Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria, believed that Boko Haram was created by the Northern political class to undermine Jonathan’s government. In the same vein, according to many Muslims in the North, the Jonathan government was either fighting the group halfheartedly or propping it up in order to depopulate the North ahead of the 2015 election. The conspiracy theories probably played a role in the Jonathan administration’s lethargic handling of the kidnapping of 276 girls from a Chibok boarding school in April 2014. What was obvious was that Boko Haram had become a menace. By the beginning of 2015, the group reportedly controlled about 20 local government areas, a territory the size of Belgium. In 2015, when Muhammadu Buhari, a Northern Fulani Muslim and retired Army General, defeated Jonathan in the election, he gave Nigerian military chiefs three months to defeat Boko Haram. This was probably based on the wrong assumption that fighting terrorism was just like conventional warfare. In December of that year, his government claimed it had recovered all territories previously held by Boko Haram, saying it had “technically defeated” the group. However, there has recently been an upsurge in the sect’s activities. It is now armed with better weapons and controls four of ten zones in northern Borno state near Lake Chad. What seems obvious is that Boko Haram has shown the capacity to reinvent itself: it has evolved from being a group fighting the Nigerian state, to targeting Christians, attacking Muslims it regards as infidels and collaborators, and now, taking the fight to the military. For instance, in December 2018, it sacked two military bases – a naval base and a multinational joint task force post – in the fishing town of Baga after a fierce battle. The group claims that its ultimate aim is to establish a caliphate where it can rule according to its version of Islamic law. Meanwhile, the Buhari government continues to live in denial, maintaining its posture that it has “technically defeated” the group. Boko Haram today Over the years, different factions have emerged. One of the earliest splinter groups was Ansaru, which emerged in 2012 after Boko Haram attacked Kano city killing about 185 civilians, most of them Muslims. Today, Boko Haram is believed to be made up of at least two main factions, one led by Shekau and the other, known as the Islamic State West Africa Province, led by Abu Abdullah Ibn Umar al-Barnawi who is said to be one of the sons of Boko Haram founder Mohamed Yusuf. However, there appear to be two people with the same name or aliases, one of whom is not linked to Yusuf. It is obvious that given the nature of Boko Haram, military solutions will not work on their own. A robust programme of amnesty, de-radicalisation and rehabilitation will have to go hand-in-hand with counterinsurgency and military solutions. All told, it will not be an easy victory for the Nigerian government. (Jideofor Adibe is a professor of International Relations and Political Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi.) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

How Boko Haram has evolved over the past ten years

Boko Haram&#39;s shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau, who recently appeared in a video vowing to continue the fight against Nigeria, has been killed in air force raid, Nigerian Army claimed today.&nbsp; 
 
In a post on microblogging site Twitter, the Nigerian Army in its offiical account, said: &nbsp;&#39;Nigerian Army troops kills 3 armed kidnappers and kidnappers camps destroyed in #Bauchi&#39;.&nbsp; 
 
The Nigerian Army said the leader of the militant Islamist Shekau was &#39;fatally wounded&#39; in raids carried out by the country&#39;s air force.
<div class="twitter-block">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
BREAKING NEWS: NIGERIAN AIR FORCE RAID KILLS BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS COMMANDERS... &ldquo;ABUBAKAR SHEKAU&rdquo; FATALLY WOUNDED!
&mdash; Nigerian Army (@HQNigerianArmy) <a href="https://twitter.com/HQNigerianArmy/status/767921120754491392">August 23, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="~/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div>

<div class="twitter-block">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BreakingNews?src=hash">#BreakingNews</a>: Abubakar Shekau fatally wounded. Nigerian Air Force raid kill Boko Haram terrorists commanders 
Cc<a href="https://twitter.com/HQNigerianArmy">@HQNigerianArmy</a>
&mdash; Uncle Fred (@fredwave) <a href="https://twitter.com/fredwave/status/767920635037249536">August 23, 2016</a> 
&nbsp;</blockquote>
<script async src="~/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div>

<div class="twitter-block">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Nigerian Army troops kills 3 armed kidnappers and kidnappers camps destroyed in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bauchi?src=hash">#Bauchi</a> <a href="https://t.co/2GUdTmCocr">pic.twitter.com/2GUdTmCocr</a>
&mdash; Uncle Fred (@fredwave) <a href="https://twitter.com/fredwave/status/767916363344117760">August 23, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="~/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div>
 
(WION)&nbsp;

The Nigerian Army said three armed kidnappers were killed during raid but it wasn't clear whether Shekau was killed or not

Boko Haram's shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau, who recently appeared in a video vowing to continue the fight against Nigeria, has been killed in air force raid, Nigerian Army claimed today. In a post on microblogging site Twitter, the Nigerian Army in its offiical account, said: 'Nigerian Army troops kills 3 armed kidnappers and kidnappers camps destroyed in #Bauchi'. The Nigerian Army said the leader of the militant Islamist Shekau was 'fatally wounded' in raids carried out by the country's air force. BREAKING NEWS: NIGERIAN AIR FORCE RAID KILLS BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS COMMANDERS... “ABUBAKAR SHEKAU” FATALLY WOUNDED! — Nigerian Army (@HQNigerianArmy) August 23, 2016 #BreakingNews: Abubakar Shekau fatally wounded. Nigerian Air Force raid kill Boko Haram terrorists commanders Cc@HQNigerianArmy — Uncle Fred (@fredwave) August 23, 2016 Nigerian Army troops kills 3 armed kidnappers and kidnappers camps destroyed in #Bauchi pic.twitter.com/2GUdTmCocr — Uncle Fred (@fredwave) August 23, 2016 (WION)

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau fatally wounded in air force raid, claims Nigerian Army

Islamic State has named a new leader of Boko Haram, the Nigerian militant group which last year swore allegiance to it. 
 
Abu Musab al-Barnawi was named the Islamic State&#39;s governor for West Africa in a two-page interview in its weekly magazine, al-Naba, which was circulated late on Tuesday. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler who took office last year, has made it a priority to defeat Boko Haram, which has tried to create a state adhering to strict sharia law in the northeast during a seven-year insurgency. 
 
Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria around the size of Belgium at the end of 2014 but was pushed out by Nigerian troops, aided by soldiers from neighbouring countries, early last year. In the interview, al-Barnawi said Boko Haram was &quot;still a force to be reckoned with&quot; and that it had been receiving new recruits. 
 
Despite having been pushed out of most of the territory it controlled, Boko Haram has carried out suicide bombings in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad, focusing on busy public areas such as markets and mosques. 
 
Fulan Nasrullah, a security analyst, said al-Barnawi had been a senior figure within Boko Haram who was previously the group&#39;s military commander. The Islamic State publication did not mention Abubakar Shekau, who was the group&#39;s leader and represented the Nigerian jihadists in videos during an insurgency that has killed about 15,000 people and displaced more than two million. 
 
Shekau, whose death has been reported on numerous occasions by the army only for him to reappear in videos, was last seen in a video circulated in March in which he seemed to suggest he was ailing and Boko Haram was losing its effectiveness. A video emerged the following week saying there would be no surrender. In June, a senior US general said Boko Haram had fractured internally, with a big group splitting away from Shekau over his failure to adhere to guidance from Islamic State. 
 
The Nigerian group swore allegiance to Islamic State, based in Syria and Iraq, in March 2015. That assessment came days after US officials said they had seen no evidence that Boko Haram had so far received significant operational support or financing from Islamic State militants, concluding the loyalty pledge had so far mostly been a branding exercise. 
 
(Reuters)

Abu Musab al-Barnawi was named the Islamic State's governor for West Africa in a two-page interview in its weekly magazine, al-Naba

Islamic State has named a new leader of Boko Haram, the Nigerian militant group which last year swore allegiance to it. Abu Musab al-Barnawi was named the Islamic State's governor for West Africa in a two-page interview in its weekly magazine, al-Naba, which was circulated late on Tuesday. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler who took office last year, has made it a priority to defeat Boko Haram, which has tried to create a state adhering to strict sharia law in the northeast during a seven-year insurgency. Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria around the size of Belgium at the end of 2014 but was pushed out by Nigerian troops, aided by soldiers from neighbouring countries, early last year. In the interview, al-Barnawi said Boko Haram was "still a force to be reckoned with" and that it had been receiving new recruits. Despite having been pushed out of most of the territory it controlled, Boko Haram has carried out suicide bombings in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad, focusing on busy public areas such as markets and mosques. Fulan Nasrullah, a security analyst, said al-Barnawi had been a senior figure within Boko Haram who was previously the group's military commander. The Islamic State publication did not mention Abubakar Shekau, who was the group's leader and represented the Nigerian jihadists in videos during an insurgency that has killed about 15,000 people and displaced more than two million. Shekau, whose death has been reported on numerous occasions by the army only for him to reappear in videos, was last seen in a video circulated in March in which he seemed to suggest he was ailing and Boko Haram was losing its effectiveness. A video emerged the following week saying there would be no surrender. In June, a senior US general said Boko Haram had fractured internally, with a big group splitting away from Shekau over his failure to adhere to guidance from Islamic State. The Nigerian group swore allegiance to Islamic State, based in Syria and Iraq, in March 2015. That assessment came days after US officials said they had seen no evidence that Boko Haram had so far received significant operational support or financing from Islamic State militants, concluding the loyalty pledge had so far mostly been a branding exercise. (Reuters)

Islamic State announces new Boko Haram leader

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Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau killed himself, says Islamic State West African Province

Nigeria’s Boko Haram leader 'killed self,' says rival militant group ISWAP

How Boko Haram has evolved over the past ten years

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau fatally wounded in air force raid, claims Nigerian Army

Islamic State announces new Boko Haram leader