The Nigerien military has announced the killing of a senior Boko Haram commander during a targeted operation in the volatile Lake Chad region, near the country’s southeastern border with Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon.
The militant, identified as Bakura, was eliminated in what the army described as a “surgical operation” carried out last week on an island in the Diffa region.
According to a military statement released Thursday, the operation was conducted with precision airstrikes launched by the Nigerien Air Force on the morning of August 15.
“Very early in the morning of August 15, an air force fighter aircraft launched three targeted and successive strikes on positions formerly occupied by Bakura in Shilawa,” the statement read.
Bakura, whose real name was Ibrahim Mahamadu, was approximately 40 years old and originally from Nigeria.
He had been involved with Boko Haram for over 13 years and rose to leadership after the death of former commander Abubakar Shekau in May 2021.
Unlike some fighters who aligned with the rival faction Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Bakura led a breakaway group loyal to Shekau and relocated with his followers to islands on the Niger side of Lake Chad, where he continued his insurgency.
Boko Haram’s violent campaign began in 2009 with the aim of establishing an Islamic caliphate in northeastern Nigeria.
The conflict has since claimed over 40,000 lives and displaced more than two million people, with its effects spilling into neighboring countries, including Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
Niger first experienced Boko Haram attacks in 2015, notably in Bosso, a town on the shores of Lake Chad.
Since then, the country has remained part of a regional military coalition combating the insurgency.
The killing of Bakura is being hailed by the Nigerien military as a significant blow to the militant group’s operations in the region.
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