The United States has placed a mouth-watering bounty of $7 million on the head of factional Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Curiously, the bounty was made in Frennch on Twitter, leading to suspicions he may be within fringes of Nigeria’s border with Niger, Chad, and Cameroon where the French language is widely spoken.
The United States Department of State announcement on Twitter comes as Nigerian Army troops killed many terrorists and destroyed their gun trucks in Damboa, Borno State.
But the terrorists killed four police officers and two civilian militiamen in an attack on a military base in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state on Wednesday, security sources told AFP.
Suspected Boko Haram fighters in trucks fitted with machine guns launched a dawn raid on the army base in the town of Damboa, sparking intense fighting.
“We lost four mobile policemen and two civilian militia fighting alongside soldiers during the fight with the terrorists,” said a military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Militia leader Ibrahim Liman confirmed the toll, after supporting soldiers during the attack.
Nigeria’s decade-long insurgency has killed 36,000 people and displaced two million others inside the country, and spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Local resident Modu Malari said on Wednesday the insurgents had attacked with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades but were forced out from the town by troops after a fierce two-hour battle.
More than 50 residents were injured by shrapnels from grenades fired by the jihadists, he said, after some strayed into nearby homes.
Damboa lies on the fringe of Boko Haram’s Sambisa Forest stronghold from where the group has launched repeated attacks on villages and military posts.
In November last year, at least 10 Nigerian soldiers were killed and nine injured in a Boko Haram ambush in Muchima village, outside Damboa.
The over N2 billion bounty for information that can lead to the arrest of Abubakar Shekau, was the biggest placed on all the terrorists declared wanted by the United States government.
“Every government and every citizen has a stake in bringing terrorists to justice and in preventing acts of terrorism”, the US State Department said.
The offer was made on the French version of the official Twitter account of the US State Department Rewards for Justice Program.
The notice provides the contact details for anyone who is interested in collecting the bounty as #Whatsapp: +1 202 975 9195 and #Telegram: @RFJ_Francais_bot.
In the English version of the Twitter account, which was opened 27 February, the Reward for Justice Program also offered $5million reward for information on 3 ISIS leaders and another $6m on another terror group AQAP leaders.
“Up to $5 million for information on ISIS key leaders Hajji ‘Abdallah, Hajji Hamid and Hajji Taysir. Justice never sleeps, and never stops looking for ISIS terrorists. If you have information ISIS, please submit a tip. 100% confidential. http://rewardsforjustice.net #RFJ”, the tweet said.
Additional reports by AFP