The Nigerian army has announced that its forces killed a Boko Haram commander and ten other fighters during an operation in the country’s northeast.
The operation took place in the Sambisa Forest in Borno state, the army said in a statement on Sunday. The leader killed was identified as Abu Khalid, the group’s second-in-command in the Sambisa Forest, described as a key figure responsible for coordinating operations and logistics along the Sambisa axis.
No casualties were reported among Nigerian troops, and the army added that counterterrorism operations continue across forested areas in the northeast.
Boko Haram has been active in Nigeria since the early 2000s, and its attacks have killed tens of thousands of people since 2009. The group has also carried out operations in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger since 2015, resulting in at least 2,000 deaths across the Lake Chad Basin.
In addition to fatalities, Boko Haram’s insurgency has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, contributing to ongoing humanitarian crises in the region.
