Boko Haram claims victory over military

LEADER of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, on Tuesday claimed in a video that Nigerian soldiers had retreated from the ongoing military offensive against terrorism and that insurgents had sustained little damage, AFP reports.

The video marks the first public comments from Shekau since the military offensive which started on May 15 following the declaration of emergency rule in the stronghold of the sect, Borno, as well as Adamawa and Yobe states.

Shekau also reportedly called for foreign Islamists to join the fight against Nigeria in the video which AFP claimed was in its possession.
The AFP reports thus: Shekau’s whereabouts cannot be determined in the video, in which he is shown seated while dressed in camouflage with a turban, an AK-47 at his side.

His comments contradict statements from the military, which has claimed much success during the offensive, including the destruction of Boko Haram camps and dozens of arrests.

It has been impossible to verify the claims of either side independently, with the military having cut mobile phone service in much of the country’s northeast and access to remote locations restricted.

“Since we started this ongoing war which they call a state of emergency … in some instances soldiers who faced us turned and ran,” Shekau said in the hour-long video.

He claimed Nigerian forces “threw down their arms in flight.”

He called on like-minded Islamists in countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq to join the fight to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.

“We call to us our brethren in these countries I mentioned. Oh! Our brethren, come to us,” he said in the video, which alternates between Arabic and the Hausa language spoken across northern Nigeria.

The video later purports to show vehicles and weapons seized from Nigerian soldiers.

Shekau, designated a global terrorist by the United States last year, repeats earlier statements that Boko Haram “will not stop the kidnap of your women and children until you set free our women and children, and our brethren.”

He also says Boko Haram’s goal is either the creation of an Islamic state or “martyrdom”.

The video was delivered to AFP through an intermediary in a manner similar to previous Boko Haram messages. The images of Shekau in the video are consistent with those previously released.
Nigeria launched the offensive against Boko Haram after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three states in the country’s northeast, the Islamist insurgents’ stronghold.
Several thousand troops were deployed and fighter jets hit alleged Boko Haram camps.
On May 20, the military said it had re-established control in five remote areas of the northeast where Islamist insurgents had seized territory.
 It had also claimed the arrests of 120 suspected insurgents.

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