MAIDUGURI: The leader of Nigerian extremist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has killed himself, according to a jihadi organization linked to the Daesh group.
An audio recording purportedly from Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, the leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP, said Shekau detonated explosives killing himself after a battle between the two groups.
The audio message follows media reports last month that Shekau, one of Africa’s most wanted men, blew himself up to evade capture by ISWAP fighters.
Neither Nigerian authorities nor Boko Haram have confirmed Shekau’s death.
There had been several false reports about Shekau’s death in the past, with Shekau later appearing in videos to refute them.
Al-Barnawi, a son to the founding leader of Boko Haram, the late Mohammed Yusuf, made the statement in an audio message heard this week by The Associated Press in the native Kanuri language.
The audio message, which last about 28 minutes, had what is reportedly Al-Barnawi’s voice, lacing his speech with quotes from the verses of the Qur’an. The audio was obtained from a former jihadist who provides intelligence to the government and is familiar with Al-Barnawi’s voice.
“He never thought this would happen to him even in his dream, but by the power of God we destabilized him; he became confused and fled to forest where he spent five days, wandering and stranded,” he said. “We followed him again where we faced him with heavy fire. He ran away, then our troops called on him to surrender so that he would be punished.”
Shekau was asked to surrender in order to be pardoned or reinstalled as a leader.
“We kept assuring him that we were not out to kill him, but he refused. To him it’s better to die than to surrender,” he said.
He went out to describe Shekau as “a defiant and corrupt leader” whose fighters were celebrating instead of mourning his death.
“This was someone who committed unimaginable terrorism. How many has he wasted? How many has he killed? How many has he terrorized?” he said.
ISWAP broke off from Boko Haram in 2016 following a dispute between Shekau and Al-Barnawi. Both jihadi groups have also been fighting each other over territory since they fell out.
The Nigeria-based Boko Haram has been waging a bitter war against Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad since 2009.
Boko Haram under Shekau’s leadership has carried out numerous suicide bombings targeting markets, crowded bus stations, churches, mosques and media houses. A Boko Haram bombing in 2011 at the UN building in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, killed 21 people and wounded 60 others.
Boko Haram attacks on towns and villages mainly in northeast Nigeria have left tens of thousands of people dead and displaced more than 2.3 million others.
In February 2014, Boko Haram killed 59 male students in an attack at the Federal Government College Buni Yadi. Two months later, the group shocked the world when it abducted 276 teenage schoolgirls from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. Shekau appeared in a video saying that the girls would be forced into marriage because girls as young as 9 are suitable for marriage. While many of the girls have either escaped or been released, 112 of them are still missing.
The Boko Haram leader was notorious for using underage boys as child soldiers, while underage girls and young women have been used as suicide bombers in recent years.
Some gruesome Boko Haram videos have shown captives, including security personnel, aid workers and others, executed — sometimes by beheading.
Shekau had bounties on his head, with a reward of up to $7 million offered by the United States in 2012.
If indeed Shekau, the driving force behind Boko Haram, has died, that will likely weaken Boko Haram and make it possible for ISWAP to take over vast territories under Boko Haram control in Nigeria’s northeastern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.
A stronger ISWAP will be bad news for the Nigerian military, as the group appears to constitute a greater threat against the Nigerian army, carrying out attacks on highly fortified military bases.
Many attribute ISWAP’s recent successes to new tactics of buying over the local population with food and money.
Daesh-linked group says Boko Haram leader in Nigeria is dead
https://arab.news/7nm4d
Daesh-linked group says Boko Haram leader in Nigeria is dead
- Boko Haram’s Abubakar Shekau, one of Africa’s most wanted men, blew himself up to evade capture by ISWAP fighters
- Shekau was asked to surrender in order to be pardoned or reinstalled as a leader
US ‘deeply concerned’ over activists’ treatment in Tanzania
Prominent campaigners Boniface Mwangi of Kenya and Agather Atuhaire of Uganda traveled to Tanzania this week in solidarity with detained opposition leader Tundu Lissu ahead of his court hearing on charges of treason, which carries a potential death penalty.
But they themselves were detained before being deported and then found abandoned near the Tanzanian border.
Mwangi and rights groups allege that both were tortured while held “incommunicado” for days.
The US Bureau of African Affairs said on X it was “deeply concerned by reports of the mistreatment” of Atuhaire and Mwangi while in Tanzania.
“We call for an immediate and full investigation into the allegations of human rights abuses,” it said, urging “all countries in the region to hold to account those responsible for violating human rights, including torture.”
Atuhaire received in 2023 the EU Human Rights Defender Award for her work in Uganda and was honored last year with the International Women of Courage Award by former US First Lady Jill Biden.
Mwangi is a longtime critic of the Kenyan government, frequently denouncing instances of alleged injustice and rights abuses.
Human rights groups say Tanzania and neighboring Uganda have accelerated crackdowns on opponents and dissidents as they prepare for presidential elections in the next seven months.
But Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has slammed what she called interference in the country’s affairs and had urged security services “not to allow ill-mannered individuals from other countries to cross the line here.”
India’s monsoon rains arrive eight days early, says weather bureau
- Summer rains, critical for economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, usually begin to lash Kerala around June 1
MUMBAI: Monsoon rains hit the coast of India’s southernmost state of Kerala on Saturday, eight days earlier than usual, the weather office said, offering respite from a grueling heat wave while boosting prospects for bumper harvests.
Summer rains, critical for economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, usually begin to lash Kerala around June 1 before spreading nationwide by mid-July, allowing farmers to plant crops such as rice, corn, cotton, soybeans and sugarcane.
Ukraine says downed 6 missiles, 245 drones overnight
KYIV: Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that it had downed six ballistic missiles and 245 drones from a massive Russian barrage overnight that was mainly targeted at the capital Kyiv.
“Air defense shot down 6 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles (Kyiv) and neutralized 245 enemy Shahed-type UAVs,” the air force said in a statement.
Kyiv comes under large-scale Russian drone and missile attack with explosions heard throughout city
KYIV: Ukraine’s capital came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack early Saturday with explosions and machine gun fire heard throughout the city, forcing many Kyiv residents to take shelter in underground subway stations.
The nighttime Russian attack came hours after Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner exchange, swapping hundreds of soldiers and civilians in the first phase of an exchange that was agreed on by the two sides at a meeting in Istanbul last week. The agreement was a moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the 3-year-old war.
The debris of intercepted missiles and drones fell in at least four city districts of the Ukrainian capital early Saturday, acting head of Kyiv military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, wrote on Telegram. According to Tkachenko, six people required medical care after the attack and two fires were sparked in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv.
Yurii Bondarchuk, a local resident, said the air raid siren “started as usual, then the drones started to fly around as they constantly do.”
Moments later, he heard a boom and saw shattered glass fly through the air.
“The balcony is totally wiped out, as well as the windows and the doors,” he said, describing the damage to his apartment as he stood in the dark in the middle of the night. He smoked a cigarette to calm his nerves while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames.
The air raid alert in Kyiv lasted more than seven hours overnight, warning of incoming missiles and drones.
Prior to the attack, city mayor Vitalii Klitschko warned Kyiv residents of more than 20 Russian strike drones heading toward Kyiv. As the attack continued, he said drone debris fell on a shopping mall and a residential building in Obolon district of Kyiv. Emergency services were headed to the site, Klitschko said.
The prisoner swap Friday was the first phase of a complicated deal involving the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the first phase brought home 390 Ukrainians, with further releases expected over the weekend that will make it the largest swap of the war. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it received the same number from Ukraine.
The swap took place at the border with Belarus in northern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The released Russians were taken to Belarus for medical treatment, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
As the freed men entered the medical facility Friday, people holding signs and photos of their relatives shouted names or brigade numbers, seeking any news of a loved one.
“Vanya!” cried Nataliia Mosych, among the gathered relatives, “My husband!”
The exchange, the latest of dozens of swaps since the war began and the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians at one time, didn’t herald any halt in fighting.
Battles continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes.
After the May 16 Istanbul meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the prisoner swap a “confidence-building measure” and said the parties had agreed in principle to meet again.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that there has been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks to end the fighting as diplomatic maneuvering continued.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday night that Moscow would give Ukraine a draft document outlining its conditions for a “sustainable, long-term, comprehensive” peace agreement once the ongoing prisoner exchange had finished.
European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.
The Istanbul meeting revealed that both sides remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones away from the battlefield between May 20 and May 23.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 175 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as a ballistic missile since late Thursday.
Hong Kong to open universities to more foreign students after US ban
HONG KONG: Hong Kong has said it will open its universities to more international students, highlighting those affected by the US government’s move this week to block Harvard from enrolling foreign nationals.
The sharp escalation in US President Donald Trump’s longstanding feud with the prestigious university came as tensions simmer between Washington and Beijing over trade and other issues.
The Trump administration’s decision on Thursday — which was temporarily halted by a US judge after Harvard sued — has thrown the future of thousands of foreign students and the lucrative income stream they provide into doubt.
On Friday, Hong Kong Education Secretary Christine Choi called on universities in the Chinese city to welcome “outstanding students from all over the world.”
“For international students affected by the United States’ student admission policy, the Education Bureau (EDB) has appealed to all universities in Hong Kong to provide facilitation measures for eligible students,” Choi said in a statement, noting the ban on Harvard’s admission of international students.
She said local universities were making use of government measures, including relaxing the maximum limits on foreign students to attract more to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on Friday invited international students enrolled at Harvard, as well as anyone with offers to attend the elite school, to continue their studies at HKUST.
“HKUST is extending this opportunity to ensure talented students can pursue their educational goals without disruption,” it said in a statement.
The university “will provide unconditional offers, streamlined admission procedures, and academic support to facilitate a seamless transition for interested students,” it added.
Harvard is ranked number one in US News and World Report’s most recent list of the world’s top universities, while HKUST is 105 out of more than 2,000 ranked.
President Trump is furious at Harvard for rejecting his administration’s push for oversight on admissions and hiring amid his claims the school is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and “woke” liberal ideology.
A US judge on Friday halted the administration’s move to prevent Harvard from admitting foreign students after the university sued, calling the government’s action unlawful.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that the administration’s decision would hold Harvard “accountable for fostering violence, anti-Semitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.”
Beijing condemned the “politicization of educational cooperation,” adding that the move by Washington would “only harm the image and international standing of the United States.”
Around 1,300 Chinese students are enrolled at Harvard, around a fifth of its international student body, according to university data.
Hundreds of thousands more attend other US colleges and universities, long viewed by many in China as beacons of academic freedom and rigour.
