Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau committed suicide in fighting against the rival jihadist group ISIS in West Africa (Iswap), the latter claimed in an audio recording released two weeks later. first reports of his death.
“Shekau preferred humiliation in the Hereafter to humiliation on Earth. He killed himself by setting off an explosive, ”declares in the Kanuri language a voice appearing to be that of Iswap chief Abu Musab Al-Barnawi in this recording given to AFP by a source usually relaying the group’s messages. .
A stalking
Boko Haram has not commented on the announced death of its leader and the Nigerian army says it is investigating.
In his recording, Iswap describes how his troops, sent to the Boko Haram enclave in Sambisa Forest, discovered Shekau sitting in his house and started fighting.
“He retreated and escaped, wandering through the bush for five days. However, the fighters (from Iswap) continued to look for him and track him down until they were able to locate him, ”the voice said.
Iswap, the dominant jihadist group in northeastern Nigeria
After flushing him out in the bush, Iswap’s fighters called on him and his followers to repent, but Shekau refused and killed himself, she continues.
“We are so happy”, underlines the voice, adding that Abubakar Shekau is “someone who was guilty of terrorism and unimaginable atrocities”.
Iswap, recognized by the Islamic State, was born in 2016 from a split with Boko Haram. After rising to power, it is now the dominant jihadist group in northeast Nigeria.