“Killed” Boko Haram leader, Shekau, in new video; denies ceasefire deal

[jchima]

In an embarrasing shock to the Nigerian Military, Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram leader who was allegedly killed by Nigerian Joint security task force, made a new appearance in a video released Friday, totally refuting claims by the Nigerian government of a ceasefire deal and ending whatever hopes left for the safe return of school girls abducted who have been in captivity for over 200 days.


Source: Killed Boko Haram leader Shekau in new video denies ceasefire deal says Chibok girls married off - eReporter

 

[waltky]

Boko Haram attacks police camp...

Corpses, silence remain after Boko Haram attack
Sun, Jun 19, 2016 - Rotting bodies, looted buildings and a grim silence mark the once bustling town of Bosso in southeastern Niger following one of Boko Haram’s deadliest ever attacks in the west African nation.

In the empty, dusty streets, soldiers outnumber the few remaining residents — including elderly people who were unable to flee the insurgents and some who have returned briefly to collect their possessions. “Corpses littered the streets,” said Abdelaziz Zembada, a 50-year-old local shopkeeper on a visit to see if it was safe to return for good. Boko Haram attacked a military post in town on June 3, killing 26 soldiers, including two from neighboring Nigeria, and a number of civilians. Everywhere, there are traces of people’s rush to escape. A single abandoned sandal rests in the courtyard of a building. Pots, pans and containers are scattered on the ground. Inside one earth-and-straw home, there is nothing, save a mattress and broken tea cups. Behind a sheet of corrugated metal, a rotting goat gives off a putrid odor. A man’s unclaimed body decomposes in a local authority building.

Witnesses say there are more undiscovered bodies scattered throughout the town. Boko Haram’s seven-year insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless in its quest to form a Muslim state. Extending the attacks to neighboring countries, the group’s ascendancy has prompted a regional military fightback involving troops from Niger, Chad and Cameroon as well as Nigeria. Zembada said he and his wife whisked three of their children to safety, but their four-year-old daughter was among those killed in the attack. “When we came back to get her, that’s when the shell landed,” he said. “My daughter was inside with two of my neighbor’s children... She hasn’t been buried yet,” he said. During the assault, the local military contingent was overrun, its barracks looted and a handful of their armored vehicles, trucks and cars were torched.

In the charred ruins of their dormitory, only skeletons of beds are still identifiable. All the town’s public buildings — gendarme offices, the town hall and an administration center — were pillaged. A local school and health center, where someone had scrawled “Boko Haram” on a chalkboard, were not spared either. In addition to what they took from the buildings, the attackers also carted off about 200 tonnes of grain that were supposed to feed locals. Niger’s military claim to have regained full control of Bosso, but it refuses to reveal the exact size of its force. “Soldiers are there. It is a consequential number,” Nigerien Minister of the Interior Mohamed Bazoum said. “Within a few weeks we will repopulate Bosso and the residents will return to their lives,” he said.

For now, many residents are shuttling back and forth between neighboring towns and Bosso to pick up what is left of their belongings. Some residents are already home, beginning the struggle to rebuild lives shattered by the attack. “We’re discouraged. We want people to come back,” said Souleymane Salissa, a barber. His home and shop were looted, but he is back and getting by with business from the soldiers. In addition to cutting hair he also offers a service to charge mobile phones. “Things are getting better, even if yesterday we heard gunfire,” Salissa said. “If you hear Allahu Akbar [Allah is great], that’s when you have to worry.”

Corpses, silence remain after Boko Haram attack - Taipei Times

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Boko Haram says 7 dead in attack on Niger police barracks
Jun 18,`16 -- Extremist group Boko Haram killed seven military police and injured three others in an attack on a barracks in southeast Niger, witnesses said Saturday.

"They arrived around 6 p.m. and went to the police camp," said Idrissa Maman Sani, a humanitarian worker based in the Diffa region where the attack occurred Friday. "They killed six and a seventh died after reaching the hospital in Diffa." The Nigeria-based insurgents claimed responsibility for the deaths of "seven apostates" in the attack, according to a statement distributed by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online extremist activity.

The militants took "weapons and various ammunition" before fleeing, according to the statement. Boko Haram's nearly seven-year-old insurgency has killed some 20,000 people and forced 2 million from their homes. Last year, the group began regular attacks on neighboring countries including Niger, prompting the creation of a regional force tasked with eliminating the extremists.

More than 20 soldiers were killed earlier this month during clashes with Boko Haram in southeast Niger, and the U.N. refugee agency said last week that more than 50,000 people had been forced to flee as a result of the recent fighting. Residents of southeast Niger on Saturday said they feared more attacks and asked for regional security forces to protect them. "We are really waiting for protection from this multinational force," said Ibrahim Abdou, a teacher in the region.

News from The Associated Press

 

[waltky]

Abubakar Shekau reportedly killed...

Nigeria: Air raid 'fatally wounds' Boko Haram leader
Aug 23,`16 -- Nigeria's military said Tuesday it believes an airstrike has "fatally wounded" Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, but there was no way to confirm yet another claim of the death of Nigeria's Islamic extremist leader.

A statement does not say how the military got the information but identifies other commanders as "confirmed dead" in an air raid on Friday. Nigerian security forces have at least three times in the past declared that they have killed or fatally wounded Shekau, only to have him resurface in video and audio recordings. The military has said in the past that Boko Haram was using look-alike fighters to impersonate the supposedly dead leader.

The strikes came in "the most unprecedented and spectacular air raid" carried out by the Nigerian Air Force while Shekau was praying on Friday, Islam's holy day, at Taye village in the extremists' Sambisa Forest holdout in northeast Nigeria, according to the statement signed by army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman. "Those Boko Haram terrorist 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," he said.

The statement comes as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to meet in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, with President Muhammadu Buhari, on a visit to discuss Islamic extremism and regional security. Kerry, speaking Tuesday morning in northern Sokoto city, made no reference to the army's report. Shekau started the uprising in 2009 that has killed 20,000 people, driven more than 2.2 million from their homes, and spread across Nigeria's borders. It has been marked by deadly attacks and suicide bombings at schools, mosques and marketplaces and mass abductions including nearly 300 schoolgirls taken from a remote school in northeastern Chibok town in April 2014. Dozens escaped but 218 remain missing.

A video showing dozens of the girls last Sunday said Shekau is willing to negotiate a prisoner swap for detained Boko Haram commanders. President Buhari is under increasing pressure to rescue or negotiate the girls' release, but his spokesman has said officials are wary since previous negotiations failed because officials were duped into talks with the wrong people. Boko Haram appears to be fractured by a leadership struggle as the Islamic State group announced it had a new leader. Shekau has insisted he is still in charge. He had pledged the group's allegiance to the Islamic State group last year - giving IS its first franchise in sub-Saharan Africa. Boko Haram - which means "Western education is forbidden - resurfaced as a deadly force under Shekau, who took over after a military raid on the group's compound in Maiduguri, the biggest city in the northeast, killed some 700 people and captured leader Mohammed Yusuf was assassinated in police custody.

News from The Associated Press