Chad's President Reveals Shekau's Location
Idriss Deby, The president of Chad, has revealed that his military forces know where Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau is hiding telling him to surrender which will be in his best interest.
“It is in Abubakar Shekau’s interest to surrender, we know where he is. If he refuses to give himself up, he will suffer the same fate as his comrades,” Deby said at a press conference with his visiting Niger counterpart.
Deby according to the Vanguard, said Shekau had fled the strategic northeast Nigerian town of Dikwa after Boko Haram fighters were chased out of the town by Chadian troops in fierce clashes last month.
The Chadian army at the time said two of its soldiers and 117 Boko Haram Islamists were killed in the fighting around Dikwa in Nigeria’s Borno state on February 17.
“We are going to win the war and we are going to wipe out Boko Haram, contrary to what certain media think. The Chadian and Niger forces will continue their mission to finally put an end to this shadowy group,” Deby said.
Little is known of Shekau, who has been declared a global terrorist by the United States and sanctioned by the United Nations.
Nigerian security officials insist he is in fact a composite character whose role is taken by a rotating cast of different militant fighters.
According to security services, the original Abubakar Shekau was the son of poor farmers who was radicalised while attending theological schools and took over Boko Haram in 2010.
The Nigerian military said last September that a man posing as Shekau in videos posted online had in fact been killed after fighting with troops in the far northeast.
The United States and other experts, however, have questioned the credibility of that claim while Shekau has outright rejected it in a video.
READ ALSO: True Identity Of Shekau Tears Lawmakers Apart
Nigeria and its neighbours Chad, Niger and Cameroon last month launched an unprecedented joint campaign against the Nigeria-based Boko Haram group, after the militants widened their offensive with attacks in the neighbouring countries.
Nigerian military spokesman, Major General Chris Olukolade on Wednesday also pledged to snuff out Boko Haram, which claims to be fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.
“Indeed there is no going back or slowing down anywhere,” he old a news conference in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
“The air campaigns are continuing with a view to dislodging all the identified terrorist cells, enclaves or hideouts anywhere in the designated mission area,” the spokesman said.
“The continuous aerial bombardment of identified terrorists’ cells and hideouts by the Nigerian Air Force and subsequent ground offensive by the Nigerian troops pursuing the dislodged terrorists is proving worthwhile.”
The Boko Haram conflict has killed more than 13,000 people since 2009 and forced more than one million to flee their homes in northeast Nigeria.
On Tuesday, the Nigerian military claimed to have killed more than 70 Boko Haram fighters and countered their bid to seize a key town in Nigeria’s restive north.
Source: Legit.ng
