As John Kerry arrives, Nigeria says top Boko Haram fighters killed

Government planes had attacked the militant group inside the Sambisa forest in its northeast heartland on Friday, the air force said, adding that it had only just confirmed details of the raid.

Sani Usman, said in a statement Tuesday that the leader of the group, “Abubakar Shekau” was seriously wounded on the shoulders during the raid.

On Wednesday Kerry is scheduled to meet representatives of local NGOs helping to fight corruption – a priority of the Buhari administration – before flying to Saudi Arabia where he will discuss the Yemen crisis, the war in Syria and the global fight against the Islamic State group.

Dozens of current and former officials have been detained since Buhari took office, but Mumuni said court cases are being delayed by a corrupt justice system.

“It is understandable that, in the wake of terrorist activity, some are tempted to crack down on anyone and everyone who could theoretically pose some sort of threat”, Kerry said. “Extremism can’t be defeated through repression or fear”, Reuters news agency quotes him as saying.

“The fact is that through the multi-national joint task force with the help from the United States, France and the United Kingdom, Nigeria and its neighbours are steadily degrading Boko Haram’s capabilities”.

Shekau started the uprising in 2009 that has killed 20,000 people, driven more than 2.2 million from their homes, and spread across Nigeria’s borders.

In a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Kerry promised to seek ways to support Nigeria in its fight against the insurgents, however, under the previous President, Goodluck Jonathan, the Obama administration blocked arms sales partly over human rights concerns.

He said: “I can not imagine what would have become of this state in terms of security if we had not had the support of the armed forces going beyond their conventional call of duty to support the Police and the Department of State Security, to ensure the security of our people in this state”.

UNICEF officials say they have recorded 38 cases of child suicide bombings this year. Congress still needs to approve the deal.

Nigeria has made “important progress”, Kerry said.

“Building public trust in government also requires cooperation from the military and law enforcement”.

Kerry told the group that asset recovery is a lengthy, complicated process but the USA government has lawyers and accountants working on it, Mumuni said. “We know that the Chibok girls are held at the Shekau camp to which the Nigeria army said that they are doing everything possible to rescue them”, our correspondent said. And a new video of the girls seems to signal new pressure on the Nigerian-based radical Islamist group.

Boko Haram, which a year ago pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been on the defensive in recent months after President Buhari revamped the military’s counterterrorism strategy. Shekau has denied losing any authority over the militants.