{{Nigeria’s militant Islamist leader Abubakar Shekau may have been killed by the security forces during a shoot-out, an army spokesman has said.}}<\/p>\n
An “intelligence report” showed that Shekau, the leader of the Boko Haram group, may have died between 25 July and 3 August, Lt-Col Sagir Musa said.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram, which has waged an insurgency in Nigeria since 2009, has not commented on the statement.<\/p>\n
The US had put a bounty of $7m (\u00a34.6m) on Shekau’s head.<\/p>\n
The intelligence report suggested that Shekau was shot on 30 June, when soldiers raided a Boko Haram base at Sambisa Forest in north-eastern Nigeria.<\/p>\n
“Shekau was mortally wounded in the encounter and was sneaked into Amitchide – a border community in Cameroon for treatment… It is greatly believed that Shekau might have died between 25 July to 3 August 2013,” Col Musa said.<\/p>\n
A video of Shekau, released on 13 August, was “dramatised by an imposter to hoodwink the sect members to continue with the terrorism”, he added.<\/p>\n
On 14 August, the military said it had killed Boko Haram’s second-in-command, Momodu Bama, also known by his alias “Abu Saad”.<\/p>\n
Correspondents say there is no independent confirmation of Shekau’s or Bama’s death.<\/p>\n
Thousands of people have died since Boko Haram began its insurgency in 2009.<\/p>\n
A claim in 2009 that Shekau had been killed turned out to be untrue, they add.<\/p>\n
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