Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Nigerian jihadists Boko Haram, today released a video message of 31 minutes in Arabic and hausa, in which he claims a series of attacks in recent weeks in the North-East of Nigeria. "We are in good health and nothing has happened to us - said Shekau, reappearing in video after months - the Nigerian security forces and those who want us badly can not do anything against us and will not get anything. We have carried out attacks on Maiduguri, Gamboru, and Damboa. We were the ones who launched all these attacks ".
In fact, the message denies, in part, what was declared by the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari during his speech at the end of the year where he declared that "the jihadists of Boko Haram were defeated", admitting that "there are still isolated attacks, because even the countries with better police forces they can not prevent certain criminals from committing terrible acts of terrorism ".
Shekau took over the leadership of Boko Haram in the 2009, after the death of its founder, Muhammad Yusuf. However, in the 2016 the organization was divided and the group that swore allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) appointed Yusuf's son Abu Musab al-Barnawi as their leader.
At least 20.000 are the people killed in Nigeria by 2009 due to Boko Haram.