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updated 10:20 AM UTC, Dec 13, 2023

We Are Still In Control Of Sambisa Forest, Others – Boko Haram

LAGOS, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Boko Haram released a new video on Tuesday rejecting claims they have been routed in a four-nation offensive.

The video was released online on the day President Muhammadu Buhari met security chiefs in Abuja.

The 10-minute message released on YouTube was the first video from the Islamist militants since February and did not show their leader, Abubakar Shekau.

Shekau, who has been accused of war crimes, has appeared in most of the insurgents’ messages over the past three years and his absence will raise immediate questions concerning his whereabouts.

The video bore the logo “Islamic State in West Africa” and comes after Shekau in March pledged allegiance in an audio message to the IS group that has overrun large parts of Syria and Iraq.

An unidentified man pictured in front of two pick-up trucks speaks with his face obscured by a headscarf and with an AK-47 rifle resting on his chest. 

“Most of our territory is still under our control,” he said, dismissing claims of the coalition’s sweeping victories.

“The armies claim through the media that they captured our towns and that they assaulted Sambisa (forest) and defeated us,” he said, referring to the bushland area Borno that has been an Islamist stronghold.

“I swear by Allah that I am talking right now from Sambisa,” he added, speaking in the Hausa language that is dominant in northern Nigeria with Arabic and English subtitles shown below.

“Here in Sambisa, you can travel more than four to five hours under the black flag of Islam by car or by motorbike…

“We are uncountable in Sambisa,” he added, dismissing reports of the insurgents’ defeat as “false propaganda”.

There was no immediate response from the military.

Shekau was not referenced at any point — a major departure from past Boko Haram statements.

Credit: Tribune (Nigeria)

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