The Boko Haram sect yesterday released a new video which showed the insurgents parading an unnamed captured own on an armoured tank.The Boko Haram video, obtained by the AFP, also showed the group’s leader Abubakar Shekau preaching to residents of the captured town.
The residents of the captured towns were also seen cheering the Boko Haram miltants as they waved their flags.
Watch video below…
In the 44-minute video, AFP reports that Boko Haram voices support for other so-called caliphates, including the one proclaimed in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State (IS) group. Shekau, who is pictured in closeup shots with rare clarity, again rejected government claims about ceasefire talks.
The video, which was delivered through the same channels as past messages, shows armed men lined along a well-paved road, with three pick-up trucks bristling with heavy weapons also visible. Black, crested flags associated with the Islamist group are also shown.
Later, an armoured vehicle rolls down the road lined with both fighters and individuals who appear to be residents of the town.
It would be recalled that Boko Haram has released a series of videos showing similar military hardware, equipment it says was stolen from the Nigerian military. Such claims have been impossible to verify.
No women or girls are seen on the street or anywhere else in the footage. Most of the message is taken up by a sermon from Shekau, delivered indoors but apparently played on a speaker to locals assembled outside.“We have indeed established an Islamic caliphate,” he said, restating a claim he first madein August.
The images of the sermon include unusually clear closeups of the Nigerian militant leader. Shekau has previously expressed solidarity with other jihadist groups and leaders.
In the latest video, he seemed to associate territory under his control with a wider, global caliphate, but did not submit to the authority of any other jihadi leader.“To everyone living in Islamic Caliphate, we convey our greetings,” he said, specifically mentioning “brethren” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Shishan (an Islamist term for Chechnya), Yemen, Somalia and “the Caliphate inIraq and Syria.”
A graphic shown later includes a picture the IS group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as well as a portion of the message his group issued on July 1proclaiming a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Iraq on Sunday was investigating whether Baghdadi was killed in air strikes by US-led coalition warplanes.Nigeria maintains it is still negotiating with Boko Haram envoys in neighbouring Chad and that a disputed October 17 ceasefire declaration remainsviable.
Violence has however continued and the Islamists are believed to control more than two dozen towns and villages in the northeast.“There is no between me and Nigerian tyrants,” Shekau said, dismissing the credibility ofDanladi Amhadu, the purported rebel negotiator.” “This person Danladi… if he thinks he can, let himshow his face. By Allah, we will kill him,” the Islamist leader opined.
On Monday morning about 50 young school students were killed during morning assembly in a school in Potiskum, Yobe State by suspected Boko Haram militants.