United States of America has expressed skepticism over reports coming out of Nigeria that the military has killed Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau. A senior official from the state department told reporters: “The Nigerians have announced several times that the head of Boko Haram was dead and every single time we find out that it is not true”.

“What I read recently is that Shekau’s lookalike or some Shekau impostor was killed and then I read later that maybe Shekau himself was killed. I don’t put a lot of weight on those stories until we see more evidence,” the official added, asking not to be identified.

Security officials in Nigeria had on wednessday said that Shekau has been eliminated and that Bashir Mohammed, killed during recent clashes with troops, was a lookalike who had been impersonating him in videos.

The announcement is the first time, the army had revealed that Shekau has been taken down, after refusing to comment on two occasions when the police and a rregional task force had claimed so, in 2009 and 2013.

The analyst also went forward to ask that if Shekau was truly gone, who was carrying out attacks on behalf of Boko Haram.

The United States hace been trying to assist Nigeria in the release of the 200 Chibok Schoolgirls kidnapped by the insurgents in April but the official described it as a huge challenge.

“Many of them were taken into the forest and given the time that is passed it is possible that many of them have been taken to other locations,” the official said.