Boko Haram leader's wife killed in NAF air strike

Malama Fitdasi Shekau, the wife of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has reportedly been killed in an air strike on Durwawa settlement on the outskirts of Urga, near Konduga, Borno State.

In a press statement signed by the Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, in Abuja on Wednesday, October 25, 2017, Fitdasi was killed while representing her husband in a meeting with other terrorists.

The statement read, "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.

"Mallama Fitdasi was reported to have been representing her husband in a coordinating meeting with other terrorists at the location of the airstrikes.

"It is recalled that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) had reported the successful aerial attack of a large number of BHTs at DURWAWA on 19 October 2017.

"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 with a few of them fleeing the location.

"Efforts are ongoing to confirm the reported killing of Shekau's wife, alongside other BHTs."

Shekau has evaded capture from the Nigerian Army several times since Boko Haram's insurgency erupted in northern Nigerian in 2009.