Conflicting reports over killing of Abubakar Shekau

No doubt, a prominent Boko Haram commander suspected to be the sect’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, might have been killed in battles with Cameroonian and Nigerian troops in recent days.

But who actually killed Shekau and where was he killed and how authentic are the claims?

These are the two questions military authorities in the two countries are providing conflicting answers to, thus creating a confusion and making it difficult for prominent news sources like BBC, CNN and even state run media sources like CRTV in Cameroon to pick up the story.

While the Cameroon Army on Sunday night claimed responsibility for killing Shekau with photos of the Boko Haram leader’s corpse to buttress their claim, the Nigerian Army same time is also laying claim to the same feat but without photographic evidence yet.

Besides, while the former said its troops killed Shekau at the Gamboru Ngala border town, the latter said its soldiers might have killed the sect leader in Konduga, a town some kilometres away from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The Cameroon military revealed that Shekau was killed following an aerial bombardment of his hideout inside Nigeria, adding that the feat has now led to serious battle against thousands of Boko Haram fighters fleeing Gamboru Ngala trying to enter Cameroon through Fotokol, a border town.

On its part, the Nigerian military claimed that its troops might have killed Shekau on September 17 during a desperate attempt by the sect to capture Konduga as part of their plot to eventually march on and capture Maiduguri.

“It is getting more certain that the terrorists’ commander who has been mimicking Shekau in those videos is the one killed in Konduga on September 17, 2014,” the military revealed.

The military however cautioned that “the process of confirming that the dead body we have is the same as that character who has been posing as Shekau is ongoing. He is definitely a prominent terrorist commander. I don’t want to say anything about this yet please.”

The military source insisted that the resemblance between Shekau and the corpse in their custody is too striking to be a coincidence.

They cited his facial marks, beards and teeth in addition to the recovery by the Nigerian troops of some of the Armoured Vehicles and Hilux jeeps that had featured in previous videos of the prime suspect.

The source said the Defence Headquarters will soon address the nation after full investigation of their latest discovery.

Curiously, the Nigerian military had on the September 17 they claimed to have killed Shekau issued a statement announcing the capture of a top commander of the sect who was being treated in a military medical facility.

The statement, also published by iReports-ng.com, is reproduced below:

“Wednesday, September 17 was a particularly bad day for Boko Haram fighters operating in the North East as they lost scores of their members during repeated attempts to enter Konduga, about 70 kilometres to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

“But the icing on the cake of Nigerian troops victory of the day was the capture of ‘a high ranking terrorists leader’ who was seriously wounded and is currently being treated in a military medical facility.

“Military sources stated that the terrorists’ leader whose name is still being kept secret was captured after the second but more fierce battle waged by the insurgents to capture the town following their earlier routing by the military. Among those captured Wednesday in battles were over 60 terrorists who were shot dead in gun duel.

“In addition to losing scores of their fighters, the terrorists also lost weapons and equipments including 24 riffles, five rockets propelled grenade tubes, two machine guns as well as a Ford Ranger vehicle while another Ford Ranger vehicle was destroyed.

“During the first battle of the day, which lasted over 12 hours, scores of the terrorists were killed.“Right now, our troops are combing the vicinity of the battle scene in a cordon and search operation to determine the exact casualty figures suffered by the terrorists in the encounter.”

Cameroon Concord.