The Nigerien Army has announced the killing of Boko Haram commander, Ibrahim Mahamadu, popularly known as Bakura, during a targeted military operation in the Lake Chad Basin.
According to a statement issued on Thursday, Bakura was neutralised on August 15 when a fighter jet launched three precision strikes on his hideout in Shilawa, Diffa region.
Bakura, a Nigerian national in his 40s, was a key Boko Haram leader who remained loyal to the late Abubakar Shekau and led a splinter faction that rejected Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
He had been active in the insurgency for over 13 years and assumed leadership after Shekau died in 2021.
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Boko Haram’s insurgency, which began in 2009, has claimed more than 40,000 lives and displaced over two million people, spilling violence into neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
Niger first suffered Boko Haram attacks in Bosso, near Lake Chad, in 2015.
The Niger Army described Bakura as a “feared leader” whose death marks a significant blow to the group’s operations in the region.