A senior Boko Haram member, Ibrahim Bakoura, aka Abu Oumaima, has dismissed reports of his death, stressing that he did not die in recent air strikes in Niger Republic.
DAILY POST recalls that the government of Niger Republic had on Tuesday announced that Bakoura was killed alongside several high-ranking insurgents in a series of precision air strikes by its armed forces on August 15.
The strikes were said to have hit Boko Haram strongholds in Korongol, Kournawa and Shilawa, in the country’s Diffa region.
Many fighters were reportedly killed with logistics supplies destroyed.
Niger’s Head of State, Abdurahamane Tiani, had earlier identified Bakoura as one of the key actors allegedly involved in attempts to destabilise the country.
Bakoura, however, in an intercepted communication obtained by security sources, dismissed reports of his death.
A counter-insurgency publication, Zagazola Makama, which focused on the Lake Chad region, said that Bakoura was heard telling his commanders that he read the news of his death on social media, as announced by the Republic of Niger.
The Boko Haram commander admitted that the air strikes indeed took place, stressing he was not among those killed.
DAILY POST reports that Niger remains a frontline state in the regional fight against terrorism.
