Boko Haram: The leader of the Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram is Abubakar Shekau. The group is most notorious for admitting to the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in April 2014. Shakau published a video clip of himself laughing as he promised to sell the girls as slaves.

It is important to note that the group’s founder, Muhammad Yusuf, died in police custody in July 2009, which many blame for making the group even more violent.

Shekau has not been seen in public since this happened and is said to only communicate through a couple select cell leaders who carry out his commands and relay them to the group’s foot soldiers.

Therefore, capturing him may be the best bet over the other two choices (capturing then killing or just outright killing) given how the last leader’s death ended up causing an even more radical extremist to come into power and escalate the violence.

Al-Qaeda: They have maintained a strong presence in the region since the 90’s and have claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda just to name a few. The most notorious and well known leader was of course Osama Bin Laden who was killed in 2011. The new leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri,  has been in hiding since the Taliban was overthrown. He claims to be the brains behind the operation even when Osama Bin Laden was in power.

Once again, it is clear that Osama Bin Laden’s death did not stop Al-Qaeda and in some aspects just fueled the fire. The organization is well funded, very secretive, and has shown that they can hold a strong presence in the region despite heavy attacks and drone strikes. There are many leaders spread out throughout other regions so killing one will just result in another taking his place.

Kronin points out that sometimes the leader needs to be kept alive in order for negotiations to occur or making on conciliatory gestures. Therefore, the leader is needed by the counterterrorism forces, as well. Additionally, human nature has shown that when a cause is well-established and has built a significant following (such as these groups), killing the mouthpiece will not end the organization.