FILES)
This file screengrab made on October 2, 2014, from a video released by
the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and obtained by AFP
shows the leader of the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram,
Abubakar Shekau at an undisclosed location in Nigeria. – Nigerian Boko
Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has been seriously wounded after trying to
kill himself to avoid capture during clashes with rival Islamic
State-allied jihadists in the north of the country, two intelligence
sources said May 20, 2021. 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,
who made international headlines when his men kidnapped nearly 300
schoolgirls in Chibok in 2014, has been reported dead several times
since Boko Haram first began its insurgency in 2009. (Photo by Handout /
BOKO HARAM / AFP)The United States (US) has made it clear
that the $7million bounty placed on Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko
Haram sect, would not be given to the Islamic State in West Africa
Province (ISWAP).
Shekau was reported to have killed him during an attack by rival ISWAP, which is affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS).
In a tweet by its State Department Rewards for Justice Program, the
US stated: “News reports indicate that Boko Haram terrorist, Abubakar
Shekau, blew himself up in a
“Hey, ISIS guys. To clarify: no– you are not eligible for the reward
for information on his identity or location. That’s not how the program
works.”
The US Department of State had on June 21, 2012, under Executive
Order 13224, placed a $7million bounty on Shekau’s head, calling him a
“specially designated global terrorist.”
On Thursday, reports emerged that Shekau was fatally injured, after
attempting to kill himself to avoid being captured by rival IS-allied
fighters.
But there were also reports that he died by blowing up himself with a suicide vest.
The Nigerian Army said that it was probing the reports.
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