Nigerian army investigates reports of Boko Haram leader’s death

Local media reports say Abubakar Shekau was seriously hurt or killed after his fighters clashed with members of ISWAP.

Nigeria’s military is investigating reports that the leader of the armed group Boko Haram may have been killed or seriously injured following clashes with a rival group, an army spokesman has said. Abubakar Shekau has been the figurehead of the organisation that has since 2009 killed more than 30,000 people, forced about two million people to flee their homes and spawned one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. A number of reports published on Thursday in Nigerian media, citing intelligence sources, said Shekau was seriously hurt or killed after his fighters clashed with members of the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), which broke away from his group in 2016.