Jihadist group says Niger’s report is “propaganda”
A close aide to Boko Haram commander Bakura has denied claims by the Nigerien army that he was killed in an airstrike last week.
Speaking in an audio message sent to AFP, a lieutenant of Bakura said, “I am with him now, we are together,” calling the government’s announcement “completely false” and “propaganda.”
Niger had claimed on Thursday that Bakura — real name Ibrahim Mahamadu — was killed in a “surgical airstrike” on an island in the Lake Chad basin.
Experts urge caution: “We’ve heard this before”
Security analysts and researchers say the report remains unverified. Vincent Foucher, a Boko Haram expert at France’s CNRS institute, said:
“They’ve announced the deaths of jihadist leaders many times, and often they turn out to be false.”
Another expert familiar with West African jihadist networks said sources suggest Bakura is still alive.
Who is Bakura?
Bakura took over a splinter faction of Boko Haram in 2021 after the death of notorious leader Abubakar Shekau, refusing to join rival group ISWAP over ideological differences.
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Said to be around 40 years old
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Believed to be Nigerian-born
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Accused of organizing the kidnapping of 300+ students in Kuriga, Nigeria (March 2024)
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Linked to suicide bombings, mass kidnappings, and military attacks across Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon
Background: Jihadist violence still raging
Boko Haram’s insurgency, launched in 2009 to establish an Islamic caliphate in northeastern Nigeria, has killed over 40,000 people and displaced millions.
The group’s operations have spilled into Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, with Lake Chad becoming a stronghold for splinter factions like Bakura’s.
Despite a military junta taking control in Niger in 2023, authorities have struggled to contain rising jihadist threats on multiple fronts — including IS- and Al-Qaeda-linked fighters along the country’s western borders.
