—–Dismisses military’s claims on Sambisa Forest
By Sadiq Abubakar
Maiduguri
In what looked like a coordinated attack, another male suicide bomber yesterday killed 15 and wounded over 25 others at Kasuwan Shanu abbattoir around 2 pm in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
This is the fourth bomb blast in the state in the past three days, with others in Biu town of Biu local government area and Maiduguri metropolis.
A butcher at the abbattior, Hamman Mohammed, told our correspondent a few minutes after the explosion that people were busy going about their normal businesses, buying and selling beef and goat meat, as well as chicken and turkey, amongst others, when a heavy strange sound was heard in the midst of the crowd.
He said: “What we saw next was smoke and objects rising. People started running helter skelter; children, women and youths were not left out as they all scampered to safety. It is a pity that about 15 dead bodies were seen being taken away by the Red Cross officials, while civilian JTF assisted and also conveyed over 20 others to a nearby government hospital for treatment.”
He added: “There is also the possibility that some of those being taken to the hospital may not survive due to the severity of the wounds they sustained. They were badly bleeding and their body parts were affected.”
Meanwhile, the insurgents have rejected claims by Nigeria’s military that they have been routed by a four-nation offensive, Reuters has reported.
A video clip released online yesterday, however, did not show the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, rather the unidentified speaker’s face was obscured by a headscarf.
The speaker called Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, who had been battling the Islamists, “the lying coalition partners”.
“Most of our territory is still under our control,” said the speaker in the 10-minute message, which was posted on the video-sharing site, YouTube.
The video bears the logo “Islamic State in West Africa” and follows the Nigerian militants’ pledge of allegiance in an audio message in March to the IS group that has overrun large parts of Syria and Iraq.
The message is the first video released by Boko Haram since February, when Shekau was shown in high definition footage, when he vowed to disrupt Nigeria’s elections.
He had featured, prominently, in most of the group’s videos over the last three years and his absence in the latest message likely stir further debate on his whereabouts or possible death.
The speaker in the new message appears in front of two pick-up trucks, with four other gunmen visible in the background.
He speaks in the Hausa language with Arabic and English subtitles shown below.
An AK-47 rifle rests on his chest as he seeks to rebuke the claims of successes made in recent weeks by the coalition.
He said: “I swear by Allah that I am talking right now from Sambisa… 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. We are thousands of Mujahedeen here,”he further said, dismissing claims of the insurgents’ defeat as “false propaganda”.
