Nigeria’s Air Force said on Tuesday it had killed several senior Boko Haram fighters and possibly their overall leader.
Government planes attacked the group inside the Sambisa forest in its northeast heartland on Friday, the air force said, adding that it had only just confirmed details of the impact of the raid.
“Their leader, so called ‘Abubakar Shekau,’ is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders,” Reuters quoted the military spokesman, Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman, as saying in a statement.
There was no immediate reaction from Boko Haram, which communicates with the media only by videos.
The military has reported the death of Boko Haram’s Shekau in the past, only to have a man purporting to be him appearing later, apparently unharmed, making video statements.