Troops Kill Top Boko Haram/ISWAP Commander Abu Khalid In Sambisa Forest

Troops of the Joint Task Force (North East), Operation Hadin Kai, have neutralised a top Boko Haram/ISWAP leader identified as Abu Khalid.

Khalid, who is the second-in-Command of Boko Haram in the Sambisa Forest, was killed alongside 10 other terrorists during a night operation in Borno State.

The Theatre Command Media Information Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Sani Uba, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

“Barely 24 hours after troops eliminated the notorious Boko Haram/ISWAP commander, Julaibib, operating within the Gujba axis of the Timbuktu Triangle, troops of Sector 1, in conjunction with members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) on Operation Desert Sanity, made contact with terrorists at the Komala general area of Konduga Local Government Area during night offensives at about 11:00 p.m.,” Uba said.

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“Abu Khalid was a key figure within the terrorist hierarchy, coordinating operations and logistics in the Sambisa axis.”

According to him, the successful engagement by the troops resulted in the recovery of five (5) AK-47 rifles, magazines, several bicycles, assorted logistics and food items, as well as huge medical consumables.

Uba said there was no casualty recorded among the troops during the operation, adding that the troops’ morale remains high as clearance operations continue across the Sambisa Forest, Mandara Mountains, Timbuktu Triangle and other known hideouts of Boko Haram and ISWAP in the North-East region.

Nigeria has been fighting insurgency for over a decade.

The insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million in the northeast since it erupted in 2009, according to figures by the United Nations.

The conflict has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Cameroon and Chad, leading the region to launch a military coalition to fight the jihadist groups.

The latest incident comes a day after an ISWAP roadside bomb along the Wajiroko–Azir axis in the Damboa district wounded several soldiers.

Though violence has waned from its peak a decade ago, when Boko Haram controlled swathes of territory, analysts warned of an uptick in jihadist attacks last year.

The United States has, in recent months, criticised Nigeria’s failure to rein in the violence that President Donald Trump insists amounts to “persecution” of Christians — a framing long used by the US religious right.

Despite the Nigerian government and independent analysts rejecting the accusations, the US launched surprise Christmas Day airstrikes on militants it said were linked to the Islamic State group.

Abuja and Washington said that the joint strikes had killed multiple militants, though those deaths have not been confirmed.