Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video obtained by AFP on Thursday that “the whole world” feared him, name-checking US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and even the late British premier Margaret Thatcher.
Shekau singled out in particular the United States, which on November 13 designated Boko Haram and its offshoot Ansaru as international terror groups.
“You are boasting you are going to join forces with Nigeria to crush us. Bloody liars,” he said, in an apparent reference to a pledge by Washington to support Abuja in the fight against the extremists.
“You couldn’t crush us when we were carrying sticks,” he said, adding: “By Allah, we will never stop. Don’t think we will stop in Maiduguri.
“Tomorrow you will see us in America itself. Our operation is not confined to Nigeria. It is for the whole world.”
But the United States has said the group and Ansaru have links the wider Islamist jihadi network, in particular Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has provided limited training and funding.
The US State Department in July offered a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to the arrest of Shekau.
The group leader also added that they were behind a daring raid on military installations in Maiduguri earlier this month.
“Allah the Almighty has given us victory in the attack we launched inside Maiduguri (which was) called Borno in ancient times,” said Abubakar Shekau in a 40-minute clip.
Speaking in Arabic, Hausa and Kanuri, Shekau added: “We stormed the city and fought them (and) Allah blessed us with lots of Donk.”
The video, which was obtained through an intermediary, shows Shekau dressed in military fatigues with a turban and Kalashnikov assault rifle leaning on his chest.
He speaks for 19 minutes in all while the rest of the tape shows images of burning buildings and aircraft said to be from the December 2 attack in Maiduguri, which is capital of Borno state.
No comments:
Post a Comment