Idriss Deby, president of Chad, has warned Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram sect, to surrender or be killed because he knows where the militant is hiding.
Deby was speaking on Wednesday when he played host to Mahamadou Issoufou, president of Niger.
“It is in Abubakar Shekau’s interest to surrender, we know where he is,” AFP quoted him as saying.
“If he refuses to give himself up, he will suffer the same fate as his comrades.”
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Boasting that his country’s security forces chased out the insurgents from Dikwa, a town in Borno state, Nigeria, Deby said Chad and Niger will not relent in the quest to put an end to insurgency.
“Contrary to what certain media think, we are going to win the war and we are going to wipe out Boko Haram,” he said.
“The Chadian and Nigerien forces will continue their mission to finally put an end to this shadowy group.”
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Chadian and Nigerien troops are among the 8, 700-man force deployed by the African Union (AU) to help fight insurgency.
On Wednesday, Azem Bermandoa, spokesman of Chadian army, told Reuters that more than 100 militants lost their lives in a battle against his country’s troops in Dikwa.
On three separate occasions, the most recent being September 2014, the Nigerian military has claimed to have killed Shekau but the sect leader has debunked his death each time.
Some weeks after the report of his death was last announced, Shekau taunted the military, saying he did not have “two souls“.
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“I am alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath,” he said in a 36-minute video.
“Nothing will kill me until my days are over… I’m still alive. Some people asked you if Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by Allah.
“I have one soul. I’m an Islamic student. I’m the Islamic student whose seminary you burnt… I’m not dead.”
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