Nigeria kills Boko Haram commander

Nigerian military said it killed a Boko Haram commander, Mohammed Chad, on Saturday in the northeast city of Maiduguri during an operation coordinated and executed by security agents. 

Spokesman of the military-led Joint Task Force (JTF), Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said in a statement reaching Xinhua that the late Chad was linked to many terrorist attacks in Borno and other states in the recent past.

"A special operation was conducted at Ruwan-Zafi area of Maiduguri by troops of the JTF and operatives of the State Security Services (SSS)," he added." The operation led to the death of a notorious terrorist commander, a.k.a. Mohammed Chad, an indigene of Marte, Borno, who had been on the wanted list of the JTF," the military spokesperson said.

According to Musa, intelligence reports indicated that he was involved in the planning and execution of many terror attacks in and outside Borno. "For instance, he masterminded the attack on Sanda Karami Secondary School at Ruwan Zafi on March 13, where a teacher was killed and some female students injured," he said.

"He is believed to be the successor to the late Ba'ana Assalafi, a key commander who lost his life during a shootout with security agencies in Sokoto on March 13," Musa added.  

Maiduguri, located in Nigeria's north eastern region, is a Boko Haram flashpoint, where the Nigerian government had declared and lifted some curfews due to wave of attacks.  Xinhua