Boko Haram Strongman, Shekau, Dead As ISWAP Fighters Capture Sambisa Forest

Boko Haram Strongman, Shekau, Dead As ISWAP Fighters Capture Sambisa Forest

iexclusive News Nigeria gathered that Shekau had surrendered and engaged in an hours-long meeting with the ISWAP fighters, where he was asked to voluntarily relinquish power. He refused and instead opted to blow himself up.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is dead, HumAngle has been able to gather from multiple sources.

This incident took place on Wednesday evening following the invasion of the terror group’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest area by a column of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters.

ISWAP, which had broken away from the Shekau-led Boko Haram faction in 2016 after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS), raided the group’s hideout using multiple gun trucks.

Shekau’s enclave was tracked down by ISWAP using its forces based in the Timbuktu Triangle. His fighters were killed in the process, followed by a long gunfire exchange between the invading group and Shekau’s bodyguards.

Reports monitored on HumanAmgle stated that after his bodyguards were subdued, Shekau surrendered and engaged in an hours-long meeting with the ISWAP fighters. During the parley, he was asked to voluntarily relinquish power and order his fighters in other areas to declare bai’a (allegiance) to ISWAP’s authority. They had expected Shekau to issue a statement.

Sources within the insurgency, however, said that Shekau who secretly had a suicide vest on eventually blew himself up alongside everyone present during the negotiations.

The identities of the people within ISWAP’s leadership who lost their lives to the explosion remain unclear at this time.

Credit: Human Angle