The Nigerian Army said on Monday that Boko Haram’s chief bomb maker was killed by one of his colleagues in one of their camps in Sambisa Forest.
The Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement issued in Abuja that the group’s bomb maker was shot while trying to flee their camp by one of the sect’s leader’s guards.
He said the slain terrorist was a high ranking officer in the command structure of the sect.
According to Usman, his killing is a major breakthrough in the clearance and rescue operation by the Nigerian military and a confirmation that all is not well within the Boko Haram terrorists’ camp.
He said, “The Chief bomb maker, apart from his high status in the command structure of the Boko Haram terrorists, he was one of their capable hands involved in making Improvised Explosive Devices.
“He was appointed after the demise of their chief scientist called Abu RPG who had been killed long ago in one of the operations conducted by the troops.
“The chief bomb maker was killed by one of the bodyguards of their leader, Abubakar Shekau, as he was about to run away because of the intensity of Operation Crackdown.’’
Usman said one ‘Julelebeeb’ who was appointed to take over as the new bomb expert for the sect was also reported to have gone blind.
According to Usman, his two eyes were shattered by shrapnel, in the process of preparing an IED to consolidate his appointment as the sect’s new bomb expert.
Usman said the development would impact negatively on the terrorists’ capacity on IED preparation, suicide bombing and their ability to sustain their criminal acts.
He said troops were continuing with the clearance and rescue operations in order to completely root out Boko Haram terrorists wherever they might be hiding in Sambisa Forest and environs.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian military has concluded plans to set up a Naval operational base along the Lake Chad Basin.
This disclosure was made by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, on Monday during one of the activities marking the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the Nigerian Navy in Maiduguri.
The Chief of Naval Staff, who was represented at this year’s Medical Rhapsody celebration at one of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Maiduguri, Dalori II, by the Chief of Navy Admin, Rear Admiral Obiara Medini, said the operational base was created to arrest fleeing insurgents, defeat Boko Haram in the ongoing counter-insurgency war and prevent recurrence of terrorism in the North-East.
He said this during a courtesy call on the Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, who was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Usman Durkwa, at the Government House in Maiduguri.
He said the officers and ratings of the Nigerian Navy empathised with the government and people of the Borno State for the untold hardship they went through in the last six years of insurgency.
He assured the governor that with sustained commitment by military troops and other security agencies, peace would be restored and sustained in the area so that displaced persons could return to their communities.
Responding, the deputy governor thanked the Navy for identifying with the victims of insurgency in the state and promised that the state government would continue to support the military to end the Boko Haram menace.
