Surrender Now Or Die, Chadian President Tells Boko Haram Leader

(Reuters) – President Idriss Deby of Chad said on Wednesday he knew the

whereabouts of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Nigerian militant group

Boko Haram, and called on him to surrender or risk being killed.

Chad's army has waged a series of battles against Boko Haram as part of a

cross-border military campaign and has re-taken territory the militant

group held in northeastern Nigeria.
“‎Abubakar Shekau must surrender. We know where he is. If he doesn't

give himself up he will suffer the same fate as his compatriots,” he told

a news conference after a regional meeting.
“He was in Dikwa two days ago. He managed to get away but we know where he

is. It's in his interests to surrender,” Deby said, referring to a town in

northeastern Nigeria held by Boko Haram that fell to Chad's army earlier

this week.
Nigeria's presidency declined to comment on Deby's remarks and a defense

spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Nigeria's military has said on at least three occasions it had killed

Shekau, or a man claiming to be him. Each time the leader has resurfaced

to issue a fresh jihadist video, one of numerous videos the group has

made.
The Chadian army is considered one of the best in the region, backed by a

strong air force. It first deployed to help Cameroon fend off Boko Haram

and is now pressing southwest into Nigerian territory after capturing the

border town of Gambaru last month.
Boko Haram, a Sunni militant group, has killed thousands of people in

Nigeria during a six-year insurgency to carve out an Islamic caliphate. It

has also staged a series of recent cross- border attacks into Chad,

Cameroon and Niger.
On Wednesday, a bomb planted and remotely detonated by Boko Haram

militants near the southeastern Niger town of Diffa killed two soldiers

and wounded a third, Niger military sources said.
In a separate attack, armed men on a motorbike killed at least two people

in Kerawa, in the Far North region of Cameroon, on Tuesday around 2 p.m.

(1300 GMT), according to a Cameroon army officer who declined to be

identified.
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