The leader of the Islamist group, Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for the two
recent deadly attacks in the North-East in a video obtained by AFP yesterday. The video also depicts women and children being held hostage by the sect. The video features Shekau,
who was declared a global terrorist by the United States, seated on a rug with a kalashnikov resting
behind his right shoulder. “We are the ones that carried out the Bama attack,” Shekau said in Hausa
language, referring to the May 7 assault that killed 55 people, mostly soldiers and police. “We also carried out the attack in Baga,” he further said of the April 16 raid in the town near Lake Chad
that sparked clashes with soldiers which killed nearly 200 people. Nigeria’s military has been accused of
causing scores of deaths in the Baga violence by deliberately setting fires that razed thousands of
homes. “It was you, the security agents that went into town the following day and burnt homes and
killed people at will,” Shekau said. The military has fiercely denied the reported abuses by its soldiers, insisting that only 37 people died in
the Baga violence, including 30 suspected Islamists. Some seven minutes into the 12-minute video
message, the screen splits, showing Shekau on the left with a group of unidentified women and
children on the right. The Islamist leader claimed this group is being held hostage in retaliation for the wives and children of
Boko Haram members detained by the military. Boko Haram has never before boasted about the
kidnapping of Nigerian women and children. “As long as we do not see our women and children we will never release these women and children,”
Shekau said.
The group set out a similar condition for the release of seven members of a French family who were kidnapped in February in Cameroon near the Nigerian border. The Moulin-Fournier family were released last month. Before claiming the French abductions, Boko Haram had not widely been associated with kidnappings. Their attacks, which have killed hundreds since 2009, have included suicide blasts as well as coordinated gun and bomb assaults on the security forces and other symbols of authority. The recent attacks in the North-East have raised concern about the increasingly brazen tactics used by the insurgents, who said they were fighting to create an Islamic state in mostly Muslim northern Nigeria.
In Bama, they stormed the commercial centre in a convoy of seven vehicles, launching coordinated pre-dawn attacks on the military, police and several government buildings. Under pressure over his apparent inability to contain the violence, President Goodluck Jonathan created a panel to seek an amnesty deal with the insurgents.
In his latest video, Shekau re-stated his opposition to any such pact. “You talk of dialogue…You are free to say whatever you want to say but we will never stop our struggle,” he said. While Shekau’s hardcore Islamist loyalists may resist a peace deal, analysts believe that Boko Haram is fractured, with some camps possibly open to amnesty.

The Boko Haram conflict is estimated to have cost 3,600 lives since 2009, including killings by the security forces.
The images of Shekau in the latest video resemble those previously released by the group and the message was distributed by email, in a manner consistent with earlier Boko Haram messages.

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/national/boko-haram-claims-responsibility-for-baga-bama-attacks/

Nigerian Press should stop calling these Criminals islamist, They are not, because all their activities negate the word islam which means Peace. They are Pure Criminal and they should be treated as such.Im sure many people will quote my post, but the fact remain that Boko Haram is a tool created to divide this country along religions line, and By the Mighty name of God, this will not work.
BOKO HARAM ARE NOT MUSLIM, THEY ARE JUST MERE CRIMINAL HIDING UNDER THE CANOPY OF ISLAM TO CAUSE HAVOC. GOD IS WATCHING

All the same I believe if all the muslims in the north stand up as one to stop (identify, report and arrest) this militant, the upsurge of these unscrupulous elements will abate.

I have friends who are Muslims, and they are not terrorists.