Niger has announced the death of Ibrahim Mahamadou, widely known as Bakoura, the feared leader of the jihadist group Boko Haram.
The Nigerien army said he was killed in a targeted airstrike on August 15, 2025, on Shilawa Island in the Lake Chad region.
Aged around 40, Bakoura was one of West Africa’s most wanted militants, responsible for orchestrating deadly attacks across the region for more than a decade.
Since its emergence in the early 2000s, Boko Haram has carried out mass kidnappings, suicide bombings, and assaults on markets, places of worship, and civilian gatherings.
The 2014 abduction of over 270 schoolgirls in Chibok drew global attention to the scale of the group’s brutality.
Over the years, Boko Haram expanded operations beyond Nigeria into Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting intensified regional military cooperation.
Following the death of its former leader Abubakar Shekau in 2021, internal divisions led to the rise of new factions.
Bakoura emerged as the head of one such branch, overseeing a series of violent attacks including the March 2024 kidnapping of more than 300 students in Kuriga.
The Nigerien army described the August 15 operation as “surgical,” involving three successive airstrikes targeting Bakoura’s camp after days of careful intelligence and preparation. Officials say the operation represents a significant step in Niger’s ongoing fight against armed groups operating in its border regions.
Authorities caution, however, that while Bakoura’s death may temporarily disrupt Boko Haram’s activities, the threat from the insurgency remains substantial. Regional security analysts emphasize that the group’s roots in the Lake Chad Basin run deep and that sustained vigilance will be required.
“The reported death of Ibrahim Mahamadou, alias Bakoura, illustrates the persistence of military efforts by Niger and its neighbours to contain an insurgency that has already claimed tens of thousands of lives in the region,” noted a statement from Niamey.
The operation underscores Niger’s ongoing commitment to combating Boko Haram, even as the complex insurgency continues to challenge security across multiple countries in the Lake Chad Basin.
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