SG The l;eader of Boko Haram has been killed in an air strike, says the Nigerian army

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Army commanders announced that Shekau was fatally wounded during the bombing raid targeting a meeting of the Islamist group’s commanders. It is understood the air strike was carried out as the terror group gathered for Friday prayers.

Shekau and other senior militants had gathered for prayers on Friday when they were hit by what the Nigerian army called an "air force raid". Army chiefs named those killed in the raid as Shekau, Abubakar Mubi, Malam Nuhu and Malam Hamman.

A Nigerian military spokesman said government planes attacked the fighters in the village of Taye inside the Sambisa forest in Borno State on Friday, adding it had only just confirmed details of the raid. Army spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman said: "Their leader, so called Abubakar Shekau is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders.”

SG A poster offering a reward for Shekau's capture

The military has reported Shekau's death in the past, only to have a man purporting to be him appear later, apparently unharmed, making video statements. There was no immediate reaction from the group. Boko Haram has wreaked terror across Nigeria, burning villages, slaughtering people and kidnapping children.

GETTY Children call for the release of schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram abduction two years ago