Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Boko Haram claims victories over Military, seeks help from Afghanistan

The leader of Nigeria's Boko
Haram Islamists said his group
has scored several victories
against the military during an
ongoing offensive while
themselves sustaining little
damage, in a video seen by
AFP on Tuesday.

"Since we started this ongoing
war which they call state of
emergency ... in some instances
soldiers who faced us turned
and ran," Abubakar 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.

Nigeria launched an offensive
against Boko Haram on May 15,
after President Goodluck
Jonathan declared a state of
emergency in the country's
northeast, the Islamist
insurgents' stronghold.

The video was delivered to AFP
through an intermediary in a
manner similar to previous
Boko Haram messages. The
images of Shekau in the vieo
are consistent with those
previously released.

The Boko Haram leader was
designated a global terrorist by
the United states last year.

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