The US State Department has said the Islamic State in West Africa Province will not get the $7 million bounty it placed on Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram sect.
Intelligence intercepted by a Nigerian security agency has revealed how the longest-reigning leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, died in a battle with rival ISWAP in Sambisa forest.
Speculations about Mr Shekau’s death were rife since Wednesday evening, but multiple inside sources and intels gathered by a Nigerian security agency apparently confirmed the death.
The intel revealed conversations between top fighters of the group who witnessed the death of the dreaded terrorist leader.
According to the intel transcript sighted by DAILY NIGERIAN, ISWAP top commander Baana Duguri informed ISWAP logistics commander Modu Sulum that they killed Mr Shekau.
Responding to reports on the death of the terrorist leader, the State Department said the bounty is not meant for a group under ISIS.
On June 21, 2012, the U.S. Department of State had designated Mr Shekau a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224.
One year later, a $7 million bounty was placed on him.
Abubakar Shekau is the leader of Jama’atu Ahl as-Sunnah il-Da’awati wal-Jihad, more commonly known as Boko Haram. Boko Haram, which means “Western education is forbidden,” is a Nigeria-based terrorist organization that seeks to overthrow the current Nigerian government and replace it with a regime based on Islamic law.
The group has existed in various forms since the late 1990s. There are reported communications, training, and weapons links between Boko Haram, al-Qaida in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Shabaab, and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which may strengthen Boko Haram’s capacity to conduct terrorist attacks,” read the statement Rewards for Justice issued when a bounty was placed on Shekau.