Nigeria's Boko Haram leader is dead - ISWAP militant group

On Sunday, the terrorist group Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) stated in an audio recording that Abubakar Shekau, the head of the Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram, was dead.

According to an audio recording by a person claiming to be ISWAP leader Abu Musab al-Barnawi, Shekau died on May 18 after detonating an explosive device while being pursued by ISWAP militants during a firefight.

He can be heard saying, "God has judged Abubakar Shekau by sending him to heaven."

The voice on the recording, according to two persons familiar with al-Barnawi, was that of the ISWAP leader.

According to a Nigerian intelligence assessment presented by a government official and Boko Haram professors, Shekau is also dead.

"ISWAP had painted Shekau as the problem, and he was the only one they wanted to get rid of," Bukarti said of Islamic State's attempt to gain the cooperation of Boko Haram leadership and men.

According to political observers, Shekau's death could put an end to a bloody rivalry between the two groups, allowing Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) to absorb Boko Haram fighters and solidify its hold on territory in northeastern Nigeria.

This would allow ISWAP to concentrate its efforts on the government and military, which are lagging behind in their war operations.

• SHEKAU 'KILLED HIMSELF INSTANTLY'

Boko Haram's leader has been proclaimed dead on multiple occasions in the last 12 years, including in military statements, only to reappear in a video post later.

On the orders of the Islamic State leadership, al-fighters Barnawi's went after the warlord and battled Boko Haram terrorists until Shekau fled, according to the audio tape.

He claimed that ISWAP pursued him and gave him the option to repent and join them.

"Shekau preferred to be humiliated in the afterlife rather than on earth, so he killed himself instantaneously by detonating an explosive," he explained.

Boko Haram grabbed international headlines in 2014 when it kidnapped more than 250 schoolgirls from the hamlet of Chibok, sparking a global effort for their release called #BringBackOurGirls, which Michelle Obama supported.

Around 100 Chibok Girls remain unaccounted for, with some rumored to have died in captivity.

Boko Haram was transformed from an underground Islamic cult to a full-fledged insurgency under Shekau's leadership in 2009, killing, kidnapping, and robbing its way throughout northeast Nigeria.

More than 20,000 people have been killed by the organization, which has also driven approximately 2 million people to flee their homes and caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Before Boko Haram split five years ago, ISWAP was a member of Boko Haram and pledged allegiance to Islamic State. The rupture was triggered by theological doctrinal differences over Boko Haram's massacre of civilians, which ISWAP condemned.