BEVERLY HILLS, June 06, (THEWILL) – The ISIS West African Province (ISWAP) militant group said in an audio recording heard by Reuters on Sunday that Abubakar Shekau, leader of rival Nigerian militant extremist group Boko Haram, has died.
Shekau died around May 18 after detonating an explosive device when he was pursued to be captured by ISWAP fighters following a battle, a person purporting to be ISWAP leader, Abu Musab al-Barnawi, said on the audio recording.
“Abubakar Shekau, God has judged him by sending him to heaven,”:Abu Musab al-Barnawi, said in the audio.
Two people familiar with al-Barnawi told Reuters the voice on the recording was that of the ISWAP leader.
THEWILL had quoted a Nigerian intelligence report shared by a government official and Boko Haram researchers, which confirmed the death of the insurgent leader.
The Nigerian military had also said it was investigating Shekau’s alleged death,
ISIS “are consolidating the whole area, the Lake Chad region and (Shekau’s stronghold)”, said Bulama Bukarti, an analyst specialising and in Boko Haram at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
“ISWAP had framed Shekau as the problem and he was the only person they wanted to remove,” Bukarti said of ISIS’ attempt to lure Boko Haram commanders and fighters to their side.
Shekau’s death could lead to the end of a violent rivalry between the two groups, enabling ISIS West Africa Province (ISWAP) to absorb Boko Haram fighters and consolidate its hold on territory in northeastern Nigeria, political analysts said.
That would allow ISWAP to focus its attention on the government and military, whose war efforts are languishing.
Shekau was reported to have been killed on several occasions over the last 12 years, including in announcements by the military, only to later appear in a video post.
In the audio recording, the man identified as al-Barnawi said his fighters had sought out the warlord on the orders of the ISIS leadership, and battled Boko Haram insurgents until Shekau fled.
ISWAP chased him down and offered him the chance to repent and join them, he said.
“Shekau preferred to be humiliated in the afterlife than getting humiliated on earth, and he killed himself instantly by detonating an explosive”, he said.
Boko Haram grabbed headlines worldwide with its 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, sparking a global campaign for their return dubbed #BringBackOurGirls, backed by the likes of Michelle Obama.
Shekau led the transformation of Boko Haram from an underground sect in 2009 to a full-fledged insurgency, killing, kidnapping and looting its way across northeast Nigeria.
The group has killed more than 30,000 people, forced around 2 million people to flee their homes and spawned one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
ISWAP was previously part of Boko Haram before its split five years ago, pledging allegiance to ISIS. The schism was caused by religious ideological disagreements over the killing of civilians by Boko Haram, to which ISWAP objected.
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