Nigeria says wife of Boko Haram head killed in air raid

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - The wife of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of terrorist group Boko Haram, was killed last week in an air raid in northeastern Nigeria, the nation’s air force announced on Wednesday.

“Human Intelligence indicates that the wife of the leader of the Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) Organization, Mallama Fitdasi, appeared to have been killed in recent successful airstrikes on Durwawa settlement on the outskirts of Urga, near Konduga,” in the Borno State, Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya said in a statement.

“Fitdasi was reported to have been representing her husband in a coordinating meeting with other terrorists at the location of the airstrikes,” he added.

Adesanya said the Air Force conducted the aerial attack on a large gathering of militants at Durwawa on Oct. 19.

“Battle Damage Assessment had indeed revealed that the aerial attack set off a fire, causing damage to the BHT structures within the settlement and neutralized most of the BHTs (Boko Haram Terrorists) with a few of them fleeing the location,” he said.

There is no independent confirmation of the military’s claim about Shekau’s wife. Previous claims about the army killing Shekau himself turned out to be false.

Boko Haram, a Daesh-affiliated group based in northeastern Nigeria, has killed tens of thousands and displaced 2.3 million from their homes, according to Amnesty International and the UN, and was ranked the world's deadliest terror group by the 2015 Global Terrorism Index.