Is Boko Haram Leader, Abubakar Shekau, Really Dead?

Early this week, Cameroonian army told Nigeria that they have successfully killed Abubakar Shekau, who the leader/spokesman of the terrorist group Boko Haram.

The army claimed they killed Shekau during a battle between Cameroon’s troops and the insurgents in the border region of Gambaru, and went ahead to post a photograph purported to show Shekau’s corpse on social media.

However, after investigating Cameroon's claim, Nigerian security authorities says there are no official reports confirming whether Shekau is really dead.

Israel launches major military offensive against Hamas

The Israeli military launched what could be a long-term offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday - striking at least 50 sites in Gaza and mobilizing troops for a possible ground invasion aimed at stopping a barrage of rocket attacks against Israel.

According to sources, the military said "Operation Protective Edge" aims at striking the Islamic Hamas group and ending the intensified rocket fire that has reached deeper into Israel in recent weeks, adding to the tensions over the killing of three Israeli teenagers and the apparent revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager.

Kenya: U.S. embassy beefs up security amid terror threat

The Marine stood behind a camouflaged sandbag bunker atop the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and scanned the horizon with binoculars.

What he saw was a busy street that officials fear is full of targets for an attack by al-Qaida-linked militants because diplomatic missions are in the neighborhood.

More than 15 years after al-Qaida destroyed the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi with a massive truck bomb that killed more than 200 people, fear is rising that U.S. diplomatic personnel and property could again be targeted. Armed Marines are now stationed on the embassy's roof, one indication of recent security upgrades.

Intelligence has been circulating in the region the last two months that American interests are the next intended target for al-Shabab, an al-Qaida linked group in Somalia responsible for last year's attack on Nairobi's Westgate Mall, said a Kenyan police official who insisted on anonymity to talk about security matters.

The terror group has also shown interest in attacking the U.S. military base in Djibouti, just north of Somalia, and there were indications that the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia was being considered as a target last year, said Matt Bryden, the former head of the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea and a top expert on al-Shabab.

Ambassador Robert Godec last week told some 400 Americans at a town hall meeting: "We know that there's a threat, and we know it's serious." Diplomats have indicated that global terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida are moving in to the region.

Abducted girls: Chukwumerije hits out at Defence Chief over comment

Senator Uche Chukwumerije has condemned a statement credited to the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh - that the military had discovered the camps where the abducted Chibok girls were being held, according to Punch.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, who spoke to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, said that the information should have remained a top military secret.

Hence, he specifically condemned the assertion by Badeh that the military had located the camps where the abducted girls were being held.

“I am very much elated by the news that the location of our girls is now known to the army. But like the rest of the nation, especially observers, I am puzzled by one phrase, according to the military spokesman; their location is a military secret," he said.

“Now what puzzles me is simply this: why do you make public what you consider a military secret? As you are announcing the location or your discovery of the location of these girls, the news is being known to those holding them captive.

“And you think they are going to stay there and wait for you until you come to locate the girls and take them away?

“This puzzles me because we know in all American military operations you don’t hear a word about that until after their mission is accomplished.

“The next you will hear is that their mission has been accomplished. When the leader of Al Qaeda was dealt with, we know how it was done.

“Nobody even had a wind of what was going on until it was completed.

"So, let us hope and pray that if the news of the location of the girls is true that the enemy is not sufficiently warned to move before our men would strike.”

Soldier Reveals Military Chiefs Work With Boko Haram

 

A soldier, who pleaded anonymity, has claimed that he witnessed incidents that suggested some military chiefs work with Boko Haram insurgents in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria.
Speaking with the Voice of America Hausa Service, the soldier revealed how his military
unit in Borno State was ambushed by Boko Haram members.

He said that the commander of a nearby military unit in Bama recently sought assistance from his unit in carrying out a raid. When the two military units joined up, they were given different uniforms. The Bama unit
commander, gave his own troops green uniforms while his unit received tan "desert camouflage” uniforms.

When they got to the battle area, the soldier said the commander of the Bama unit suddenly withdrew his forces leaving the remaining troops to fend for themselves against Boko Haram fighters.