Abuja // The Nigerian military said a man who appeared in recent videos identifying himself as Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau was killed in a battle last week.
Troops repelling repeated attempts by the Islamist militants to take control of the north-eastern town of Konduga attacked a convoy of vehicles carrying top commanders, killing several on September 17.
Among the dead was “one Mohammed Bashir who has been acting or posing on videos as the deceased Abubakar Shekau, the eccentric character known as leader of the group”, Nigeria’s defence headquarters said on Wednesday.
Though the army said last year it killed Shekau, it never provided any proof.
A man declaring to be Shekau appeared in videos after to disprove the military’s claims, prompting allegations by security agencies an impostor was at work.
Boko Haram, which has been battling the Nigerian state since 2009, killed more than 4,000 people in the past 12 months, Maplecroft, the UK-based risk consultancy said this month.
More than 350,000 people in the north-eastern states where the violence is fiercest have fled their homes this year.
The insurgents’ assaults on Konduga showed the determination of Boko Haram to “take over communities around Maiduguri, which is their prime target”, the Nigerian military said.
President Goodluck Jonathan, whose government said previously it was close to crushing Boko Haram, this year began describing the group as an expanding Al Qaeda-backed threat to Africa.
“Evidence has shown that Boko Haram is resourced largely from outside our country,” Mr Jonathan told a meeting of the United Nations Security Councilon Wednesday. The group has killed more than 13,000 people in the past five years.
Mr Jonathan, who met British prime minister David Cameron in New York this week, urged the UK to increase its assistance in the areas of intelligence gathering, training and logistics.
Countries including the UK and the US stepped up support for the Nigerian counterinsurgency effort after Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 girls from their school dormitory in the northeastern town of Chibok in April.
Mr Jonathan has been criticised at home and abroad for his slow response to the kidnapping and for his inability to quell the violence.
“Although it has been over three months since they were abducted, we have never relented in our efforts to set them safely free,” Mr Jonathan said.
“Together with our partners, we are working assiduously to free our daughters and reunite them with their families,” he said. “We shall not waiver until we end this mindless war on the innocent and bring all the perpetrators to justice.”
The Nigerian military said the insurgents have been trying to take over towns close to the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, which it described as their “prime target.” Konduga is about 40 kilometres south-east of Maiduguri.
At least 135 Islamists who surrendered to the troops on Tuesday in the northeastern town of Biu are being interrogated, the army said.
* Bloomberg with additional reporting by Reuters
