Niger Army Eliminates Boko Haram Leader Bakura in Precision Airstrike

The Nigerien military has announced the successful elimination of a key Boko Haram commander, Bakura, during a targeted operation in the Lake Chad basin, a volatile region where Niger shares borders with Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon.

According to a statement released on Thursday, the operation took place last week on an island in the Diffa region of southeastern Niger. Bakura, whose real name was Ibrahim Mahamadu, was killed during a precision airstrike carried out by a fighter jet in the early hours of August 15.

The army described Bakura as a “feared leader” who commanded a splinter faction of Boko Haram loyal to the group’s former leader, Abubakar Shekau. Unlike many others, he refused to join the rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and instead relocated with his loyal fighters to islands on the Nigerien side of Lake Chad.

“On the morning of August 15, an air force jet conducted three successive and precise strikes on Bakura’s known positions in Shilawa,” the military stated.

Bakura, believed to be around 40 years old and originally from Nigeria, had been involved with Boko Haram for over 13 years. He rose to leadership after the death of Shekau during internal clashes between jihadist factions in May 2021.

Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009 with the aim of establishing an Islamic caliphate in northeastern Nigeria. The conflict has claimed over 40,000 lives and displaced more than two million people, with its violence spilling into neighboring countries including Niger, which first experienced an attack in the town of Bosso in 2015.