By Joy Baba with agency report
Military authorities yesterday said they might have scored a strategic victory in the current battle against the Boko Haram terrorists operating in the North East.
According to senior military and intelligence sources, “It is getting more certain that, on September 17, during a desperate attempt to capture Konduga, in Borno state, in the insurgents’ delusion to eventually marching on and capture Maiduguri, terrorists’ commander who had been mimicking the late Abubakar Shekau in recent videos might have been finally killed”, it stated.
The security sources said the suspected demise of the Boko Haram leader is responsible for the scattering of the sect members in different independent locations in the neighbouring countries, especially in Cameroon noticed in recent days.
The sources cautioned that “the process of confirming that the dead body we have is the same as that character who has been posing as Shekau is on-going. He is definitely a prominent terrorist commander. I don’t want to say anything about this yet please.”
Another high ranking military source insisted that the resemblance is too striking to be a coincidence. They cited his facial marks, beards and teeth apart from the recovery by the Nigerian troops of some of the Armoured Vehicles and Hilux jeeps that had featured in previous videos of the prime suspect.
The officers assured that the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) will soon address the nation after full investigation of their latest discovery.
In a related development, the DHQ yesterday said five Boko Haram insurgents have surrendered after encounters in Konduga. The insurgents were said to have pleaded for mercy after surrendering their weapons.
The DHQ, which made the disclosure in a Twitter handle, said some captured insurgents were already giving useful information.
The tweet said: “As the heat on terrorists continues, 5 terrorists yesterday surrendered with all their weapons to troops in Konduga pleading for mercy
“Other captured terrorists have also been giving useful information on the subsequent plans of the group, in an apparent offer to cooperate.”
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