Nigeria: African arm Isis confirms death of head Boko Haram

2021-06-07T21:08:12.147Z

ISWAP, the arm of ISIS in West Africa, confirmed the death of Abubakar Shekau, head of the Nigerian jihadist organization Boko Haram. The head of Iswap, Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, allegedly broke the news in a speech to his militiamen, the recording of which was obtained by the Nigerian newspaper HumAngle and by France Press through a source close to ISWAP. "Shekau preferred to be humiliated in the afterlife to being humiliated on Earth," says a voice appearing in the Kanuri language recording that of Al-Barnawi, "instantly killed himself by detonating an explosive." Shekau allegedly committed suicide on May 19 by blowing himself up with an explosive belt so as not to be captured by Iswap members who had been hunting him for days in the forest.The news was released in the following days by various media, including the Wall Street Journal, but was never confirmed by Boko Haram. Iswap (Islamic State West African Province) was born in 2016 from an internal split in Boko Haram, as some of its members considered Shekau's methods too brutal, in whose terrorist actions other Muslims often fell victim.