Boko Haram In Vengeance Mission, Now Target Women And Children For Kidnap

A new video clip purportedly released yesterday by Boko Haram leader – Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, has revealed that the sect has abducted women and children in response to the arrest of its members' wives and children.

Shekau, however, did not name the women and children whom he said the group had seized, or give their number.

In the 12-minute video, Shekau, who was seated on a rug with a kalashnikov resting behind his right shoulder, also said the group was behind two recent attacks in the north-east, which left an estimated 240 people dead.

"We are the ones that carried out the Bama attack," Shekau said in Hausa just as he gave the number of women, children and infants related to sect who have been arrested by security forces in Kano, Bauchi and Damaturu.

"In a single house in Damaturu, eight of our women and 14 children were arrested.

"No one in this country will enjoy his women and children if the relatives of Boko Haram members were not released," he said.

In the video, Shekau accused the military of causing scores of deaths in the Baga violence by deliberately setting fires that razed thousands of homes in the community; an allegation that has been stoutly debunked by the Defence Headquarters previously.

"It was you, the security agents, that went into town the following day and burnt homes and killed people at will," Shekau said.