Army spokesman Sani Usman
said troops destroyed more rebel enclaves and camps in the restive state of
Borno, which has been worst hit by the six-year Islamist insurgency.
"The fight against the
terrorists in the northeast is gaining successful momentum, with most of the
camps falling to the Federal might," he said in a statement.
A total of 62 people were
rescued from around the town of Gwoza, which last year Boko Haram declared the
headquarters of its caliphate but which it lost control of in March.
Some 77 men, women and
children, most of them "haggard, dejected and obviously
malnourished", also arrived in the town of Bama on Saturday, Usman said.
One man picked up said he
had his right hand cut off by militants in their Sambisa Forest stronghold in
Borno last year, he said, adding that eight Boko Haram suspects surrendered to
troops.
Nigeria's military has
claimed a series of successes against Boko Haram recently and on Friday said it
had rescued 90 people and dislodged Boko Haram from two villages near Gwoza.
President Muhammadu Buhari
in early August gave his new military commanders three months to defeat Boko
Haram, after six years of violence, at least 15,000 dead and more than two
million homeless.
- Audio message -
Shekau has not been seen on
video since February and until an audio message last month had not spoken since
March, when he proclaimed Boko Haram's allegiance to the so-called Islamic
State group.
His absence sparked fresh
rumours about whether he was still alive or had been deposed as leader, with
other videos this year fronted by an unknown rebel under the name Islamic State
in West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Shekau said in a 25-minute
recording in Hausa and Arabic via social media: "They (the military) lied
that they have confiscated our arms, that we have been chased out of our
territories, that we are in disarray.
"We are alive, I am alive,
this is my voice, more audible than it was before. This is Shekau."
He added: "Buhari is a
liar and has deceived you. The army spokesman is also lying. He and his
footsoldiers always run helter-skelter whenever we come face to face with
them...
"Buhari, you once
claimed that you will crush us in three months. How can you crush us?"
Shekau directly refers to IS
group leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, to whom he says he is "loyal and
subservient".
He also namechecks IS
spokesman Abu-Mohammed al-Adnani and sends "greetings to the faithful in
Yemen", where there is also an IS "affiliate".
There was no indication of
where or when the recording was made but it appears to have have been in recent
days.
Shekau talks of Buhari's
"deal with Hollande", referring to the Nigerian president's three-day
visit to Paris earlier this week, which included talks with his French
counterpart Francois Hollande.
He also dismissed as untrue
Buhari's comments about "our brethren in prison".
Buhari this week said the
Nigerian authorities were talking to Boko Haram prisoners in their custody and
could offer them amnesty if the group hands over more than 200 schoolgirls
abducted last year
Source: Yahoo News
Image credit: The News
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