Nigeria: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau killed himself, says Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP)
Abubakar Shekau, the head of the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram, had killed himself, rival Islamist militants said in an audiotape.
According to recordings received by news agencies from Boko Haram on Sunday, the group’s leader Abubakar Shekau killed himself in a confrontation against rival jihadist fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), two weeks after reports emerged that he had died.
“Shekau preferred to be humiliated in the hereafter to getting humiliated on earth. He killed himself instantly by detonating an explosive,” a voice speaking in the Kanuri language resembling that of ISWAP leader Abu Musab Al-Barnawi said.
Boko Haram has yet to issue an official statement regarding the death of their leader, who led a decade-long war in northeast Nigeria.