Maiduguri, Borno State – The Nigerian Army has announced that its troops killed a senior Boko Haram commander and ten other members of the terrorist group during a targeted operation in the Sambisa Forest, northeastern Nigeria.
In a statement released on Sunday, February 1, 2026, the army said the operation was conducted in the dense Sambisa Forest area of Borno State, a long-standing hideout and operational base for Boko Haram factions.
The slain commander was identified as Abu Khalid, described as the second-in-command of Boko Haram in the Sambisa axis. Military sources said Khalid played a central role in coordinating attacks, logistics, and movement of fighters along key corridors in the forest.
The army reported that the operation was intelligence-led and resulted in no casualties among Nigerian troops. “Counterterrorism operations are continuing in forested areas across the northeast to deny terrorists freedom of action and degrade their capabilities,” the statement added.
Boko Haram, founded in the early 2000s, has waged a violent insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing millions since 2009. The group splintered after the death of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, in 2009, with Abubakar Shekau leading the main faction until his death in 2021. A rival faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), emerged in 2016 and has since become more dominant in some areas.
Since 2015, Boko Haram and ISWAP have extended attacks into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, killing at least 2,000 people across the Lake Chad Basin region, according to regional security authorities and the United Nations. The violence has displaced over two million people in Nigeria alone and created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
The Sambisa Forest, a vast and difficult-to-penetrate area spanning thousands of square kilometres, has remained a major operational base for insurgents despite repeated military clearance operations. The Nigerian military has conducted large-scale offensives in the forest since 2015, including multinational operations under the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF).
The killing of Abu Khalid is considered a significant tactical blow to Boko Haram’s Sambisa faction, which has been weakened but continues to carry out sporadic ambushes, kidnappings, and improvised explosive device attacks.
The army did not disclose whether any weapons, equipment, or intelligence materials were recovered during the operation.
The development comes amid ongoing efforts by the Nigerian military to degrade terrorist capabilities in the northeast under Operation Hadin Kai, the military’s counterinsurgency campaign launched in 2021. Security officials have reported a decline in large-scale attacks in recent months, though isolated incidents and abductions persist.
President Bola Tinubu’s administration has repeatedly pledged to end the insurgency and restore normalcy to the region, with increased military funding and support for community engagement programmes.
The United Nations and humanitarian agencies continue to warn of severe food insecurity, displacement, and protection risks in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states due to the lingering conflict.
No further details on the operation or the identities of the other ten killed fighters have been released by the military as of February 1, 2026.
