Is Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau dead or alive? The confusion over his fate grew yesterday as Cameroon claimed to have killed the ruthless fundamentalist.
The Cameroonians said he was killed in a battle near Nigeria’s border in Ngala.
This is against the background of his alleged killing during another battle in Konduga, near Maiduguri.
The Defence Headquarters is investigating the claim that Shekau was killed in Konduga but it claimed that there was no battle between the sect and Cameroon near Ngala.
The Cameroon Army said it killed Shekau at the weekend, in a statement, accompanied by the photograph of a man said to be the sect’s deadly chief.
The statement said Shekau was killed in an aerial bombardment near the Nigerian border town of Ngala in conjunction with a ground raid.
Security forces have claimed to kill Shekau a number of times since he became Boko Haram’s leader in 2010 after the death of his predecessor, The “moderate” Mohammed Yusuf.
DHQ confirmed that 10 more insurgents have surrendered in Kawuri, Borno State.
They dropped their arms and ammunition to troops.
All the 10 insurgents have been taken into a military facility for debriefing.
The DHQ said Cameroon military did not carry out any raid on Nigerian territory as being claimed by the Francophone country.
It said Cameroon was not responsible for the elimination of some terrorists in the country since last week.
A tweet from DHQ’s handle said: “Another set of 10 terrorists yesterday surrendered to troops at Kawuri. They are in custody for necessary security debriefing.
“There was no raid whatsoever by Cameroon or any foreign forces in any part of Nigeria’s territory in pursuit of terrorists as claimed in some reports allegedly quoting Cameroon military authorities.
“All operations ongoing in the environs of Konduga and all associated border locations within the country are completely being undertaken by Nigerian troops.”
But it was still unclear yesterday whether the leader of Boko Haram, Shekau had been killed or not.
Another source said a commander who had been “mimicking Shekau” was the one shot dead.
While some military sources claimed that another Boko Haram Commander, Bashir Mohammed, was shot dead in Konduga, others insisted that it was Shekau who got killed.
One of the sources said: “We are conducting some pathological examination of the body of the terrorists’ commander who was killed in Konduga on September 17, 2014.
“Our position is that it is getting more certain that the terrorists’ commander, who had been mimicking Shekau in those videos, was the one killed in Konduga.
“Such a challenge in identifying wanted or dead commanders in war situation is not new. You will recall that even when the US forces captured the late Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, a saliva or phlegm test was conducted to ascertain that he was the one.
“The military is being extremely careful. The DHQ is going to make appropriate pronouncement after all the technical and pathological details have been sorted out.”
