Nigeria’s army has reported several successes in the
battle against Islamist group Boko Haram. Observers
are skeptical and also doubt claims that the group’s
leader has been killed - not for the first time.
The Nigerian army attracted considerable attention with
its recent claims of not one but several military
successes against Islamist terror group Boko Haram.
The Islamists had been advancing unopposed for
months, swallowing up more and more areas into their
self-proclaimed caliphate, but now the army says they
have forced them back with a decisive strike. Several
hundred fighters had surrendered to the army, said
military spokesman Chris Olukolade on Wednesday
(24.09.2014). In addition "a certain Mohammed Bashir
who had posed in various videos as the group's leader
Abubakar Shekau, died in that operation."
Last year the army announced Shekau had been killed in
an exchange of fire. However the self-proclaimed imam
then made an appearance in several new video
messages. The army could not prove that Shekau was really dead
– but neither could Boko Haram remove doubts that he
had been impersonated by a double in the videos.
In Nigeria the fresh news of Shekau's death was met
with great skepticism. "So he's dead again," was the
comment by Hamid Ali, a retired army colonel. "I
wonder just how many lives he has."