Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, on Tuesday released a video message claiming the group is responsible for a series of attacks in northeastern Nigeria during the festive season.
Shekau’s first video message in months comes amid a surge in violence casting doubt on the Nigerian government’s claim that the jihadist group is defeated.
“We are in good health and nothing has happened to us,” said Shekau in the 31-minute video message recorded in Hausa.
“We carried out the attacks in Maiduguri, in Gamboru, in Damboa. We carried out all these attacks.”
The video then shows footage from a Christmas Day attack on a military checkpoint in Molai village on the outskirts of the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, which the military said was thwarted by troops after one hour of battle.
Boko Haram fighters in torn clothes were shown shooting from the back of battered pickup trucks.
Shekau’s message comes during an acceleration of Boko Haram attacks and just days after the jihadists killed 25 people outside Maiduguri, the birthplace of the Islamist insurgency.
In December, Boko Haram attacked convoys of Nigerian soldiers and dispatched suicide bombers into crowded markets in towns across northeast Nigeria.
At least 50 people were killed in November when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque in Adamawa state.
Shekau, a leader known for his lengthy, wild-eyed video messages, took over Boko Haram in 2009 after the death of its founder Muhammad Yusuf.
