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Nigerian military: Air raid fatally wounds Boko Haram leader

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Monday May 12, 2014 file photo taken from video by Nigeria's Boko Haram terrorist network, shows their leader Abubakar Shekau speaking to the camera. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is believed to be fatally wounded in an airstrike while he was praying in a forest stronghold in northeast Nigeria, the military said Tuesday Aug. 23, 2016 A statement does not say how the military got the information but it identifies other commanders as "confirmed dead." (AP Photo/File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In his file image taken from video released late Friday evening, Oct. 31, 2014, by Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, centre, the leader of Nigeria's Islamic extremist speaks in an unidentified place. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is believed to be fatally wounded in an airstrike while he was praying in a forest stronghold in northeast Nigeria, the military said Tuesday Aug. 23, 2016 A statement does not say how the military got the information but it identifies other commanders as "confirmed dead."(AP Photo/Boko Haram,File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Monday May 12, 2014 file photo taken from video by Nigeria's Boko Haram terrorist network, shows their leader Abubakar Shekau speaking to the camera. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is believed to be fatally wounded in an airstrike while he was praying in a forest stronghold in northeast Nigeria, the military said Tuesday Aug. 23, 2016 A statement does not say how the military got the information but it identifies other commanders as "confirmed dead." (AP Photo/File) (The Associated Press)

Nigeria's military says it believes an air strike has fatally wounded Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and other commanders of the homegrown Islamic extremist movement.

A brief statement Tuesday does not say how the military got this information. Nigerian security forces have at least three times in the past declared that they have killed or fatally wounded Shekau.

Army spokesman Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman says the "most unprecedented and spectacular air raid" took place while Shekau was performing prayers on Friday at Taye village in the Sambisa Forest in northeastern Nigeria.

He says Shekau "is believed to be fatally wounded" along with other leaders.

Shekau started the uprising in 2009 that has killed about 20,000 people and driven more than 2.2 million from their homes.