Niger Army Airstrike Eliminates Boko Haram Leader Bakoura

Dakar (Senegal), Aug 22 (AP) — The Nigerien army announced it successfully carried out a targeted airstrike, eliminating a leading figure of the Boko Haram jihadist organization, which has been responsible for the deaths of thousands across West Africa.

Ibrahim Bakoura was killed in an airstrike on August 15 in the Lake Chad area, an attack that reportedly took the lives of “dozens of terrorists” and senior members of Boko Haram, according to an army statement disclosed on state television this Thursday.

Described as being in his mid-40s, Bakoura was “tracked for several weeks” before the strike took place, the military added.

Boko Haram arose out of Nigeria in 2009, opposing Western education and aiming to impose a radical interpretation of Islamic law. This insurgency has spread to Nigeria's neighboring countries, including Niger, resulting in approximately 35,000 civilian casualties and displacing over 2 million people, according to United Nations data.

Wassim Nasr, a Sahel expert and senior research fellow at the Soufan Centre security think tank, advised caution regarding the reports of senior militant deaths. Bakoura has reportedly died at least three times before, and governments often face challenges in verifying results of remote airstrikes.

The death of the group’s long-time leader, Abubakar Shekau, in 2021, which was also wrongly reported multiple times, led to a split within Boko Haram into two factions.

Taking the helm in 2022, Bakoura led one of those factions. One faction, known as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), receives support from the Islamic State group and has gained notoriety for its assaults on military posts. By 2025, ISWAP had overwhelmed the Nigerian military on at least 15 occasions, causing soldier casualties and seizing weapons, as noted by an Associated Press tally along with expert and security reports.

The counterpart faction, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad (JAS), still referred to as Boko Haram, has increasingly targeted civilians and collaborators. They have been involved in robberies and kidnappings for ransom.

The death of Bakoura is one of several setbacks for armed groups in the region, following the recent arrests of high-ranking Al-Qaeda aligned leaders in Nigeria and the capture of the son of Boko Haram's founder in Chad.

According to experts, intelligence agencies within West and Central Africa are intensifying their efforts due to previous security inadequacies against armed groups.

Per Taiwo Hassan, a security analyst at the Institute of Security Studies, local military and security forces might have faced embarrassment, as troops had retreated upon facing ISWAP advances. The repeated attacks prompted a more vigorous response from militaries throughout the region.

Hassan further stated that the arrest and elimination of significant leaders would enhance the regional battle against insecurity, given that Niger's government addresses potential retaliatory actions and prevents the regrouping of these factions elsewhere. (AP) NPK NPK

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