How Boko Haram Leader, Shekau Killed Self, Others
…As ISWAP fighters capture Sambisa forest
Against attempts to make him relinquish power, Abubakar Shekau, leader of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists group, who surrendered to the superior fire power of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters that engaged him and his fighters in an hour-long battle, he refused and opted for suicide by blowing himself and others around him up.
Checks from multi sources indicate that the erstwhile leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau died on Wednesday evening following the invasion of his groupās stronghold in the Sambisa forest area by a column of Libyan trained ISWAP fighters.
ISWAP, which had broken away from the Shekau-led Boko Haram faction in 2016 after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS), raided Shekauās hideout using multiple gun trucks.
It was further gathered that Shekauās enclave was tracked down by ISWAP using its forces that are based in the Timbuktu Triangle that succeeded in killing his fighters in the process.
This was after a long exchange of gunfire between the ISWAP group and Shekauās bodyguards and after his bodyguards were subdued, Shekau surrendered and engaged in an hour-long meeting with the ISWAP fighters.
It was at the meeting that he was asked to voluntarily relinquish power and order his fighters in other areas to declare allegiance (baiāa) to ISWAPās authority.
The ISWAP group had expected Shekau to accept by issuing a statement, but Shekau, who was believed to had a suicide vest unknown to the group that overpowered him, pressed the button and blew himself up alongside everyone present during the negotiations.
The identities of the ISWAP leadership at the meeting that suffered collateral damage in the explosion remain unclear as at the time of this report.
Shekau, who assumed the leadership of Boko Haram since 2009 following the death of its founder, late Mohammed Yusuf. He had been rumoured to have been killed about four times between July 2015 and 2019.
For instance, in August 2016, the Nigerian Air Force claimed that Shekau was āfatally woundedā by military bombardments, but the terror group released a video barely a month later showing he was alive and in good health.
The Shekau-led Boko Haram terrorists group, also known as the JamÄāat Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Daāwah Waāl-JihÄd (JAS) had turned Sambisa forest into its strong hold from where it plans and launches attack on communities and the Nigerian military.