ABUJA/MAIDUGURI — The Nigerian military says it has killed a high-ranking commander of Boko Haram during continued clearance operations in the country’s North-East, a development officials described as a significant blow to insurgent command structures.
Security sources speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria identified the commander as Abu Khalid, described as the group’s “second-in-command” in the Sambisa Forest, long regarded as one of the insurgency’s most entrenched enclaves.
According to the report, the military said Khalid played a key role in coordinating attacks, logistics and the movement of fighters across parts of North-East Nigeria. Officials said his death would weaken Boko Haram’s ability to plan and sustain operations from within the forest.
No independent confirmation of the claim was immediately available, and the military did not provide further details on the circumstances of the operation, the specific location of the encounter, or whether additional commanders were killed or captured. The account was attributed to “reliable military sources,” with no accompanying casualty figures for either side.
In the same briefing, the military reaffirmed it would sustain ongoing operations until “all terrorist elements are eliminated,” while urging remaining insurgents to surrender and “embrace peace.”
The Sambisa axis in Borno State has remained a focal point of Nigeria’s counterinsurgency campaign, even as violence persists across multiple theatres in the North-East. Analysts say leadership losses can disrupt militant networks in the short term, but the extent of any lasting impact often depends on follow-up operations and the group’s capacity to replace commanders.
