The Nigerien military has confirmed the death of a senior Boko Haram commander, Ibrahim Mahamadu, also known as Bakura, during a targeted airstrike in the Lake Chad region last week.
According to a statement released Thursday, Bakura was killed in a “surgical operation” conducted on August 15 by a Nigerien Air Force fighter jet, which launched three precision strikes on militant positions in Shilawa, an island in the southeastern Diffa region.
Bakura, believed to be around 40 years old and originally from Nigeria, led a splinter faction loyal to the late Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.
He had refused to align with the rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and relocated with his fighters to islands on Niger’s side of Lake Chad.
The military described Bakura as a “feared leader” and a key figure in the group’s cross-border operations. His death marks a significant development in the ongoing regional efforts to dismantle Boko Haram’s presence in the Lake Chad basin, where Niger shares borders with Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon.
Boko Haram’s insurgency, which began in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, has claimed over 40,000 lives and displaced more than two million people.
The conflict spilled into Niger in 2015, with the town of Bosso experiencing the group’s first attack on Nigerien soil.
Bakura reportedly joined Boko Haram over 13 years ago and assumed leadership of his faction following Shekau’s death in May 2021 during internal clashes among jihadist groups.
The Nigerien military has not disclosed further details about the operation or whether additional militants were killed or captured.
