A new Boko Haram video has purportedly shown the beheading of a man, who identified himself as the pilot of a Nigerian Air Force Alpha jet, which went missing over three weeks ago and burnt out parts of a plane in military colors — the first indication that the extremist group has the capability to bring down aircraft.
The video also allegedly features Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, a man the military has claimed to have killed. “Here I am, alive and I will remain alive until the day Allah takes away my breath,” the man says in the Hausa language. “Even if you kill me … it will not stop us imposing Islamic rule … We are still in our Islamic state, reigning and teaching the Koran”, the purported Shekau boasted.
The video was made available to The Associated Press through the same channels used previously and seems to show the same man, who has claimed to be Shekau in past video clips. However, the date and location of the latest clip is unknown.
In the latest video, Shekau says they are prosecuting in accordance with Shariah law in areas under their jurisdiction. Examples of punishments are shown, including the stoning to death of a man apparently accused of adultery; the amputation of the hand of a young man accused of theft; the lashings of a man and what appears to be a girl covered in the hijab for alleged fornication.
The video ends with a show of burnt out plane parts in the bush.
It would be recalled that two pilots and an Alpha jet have been missing since September 11 when it left Yola, Adamawa State, on a counter-insurgency mission.
The video shows a man in a camouflage vest with his right hand in a sling kneeling down, with a fighter hovering over him with a pick axe, which is later used in the beheading.
Speaking in English, the victim identifies himself as a Wing Commander in the Nigerian Air Force and says he was undertaking a mission in Kauri area of Borno State on September 11.
“We were shot down and our aircraft crashed”, he says, appearing to keep his composure throughout the ordeal. “To this day, I don’t know the whereabouts of my second pilot”.
Shekau claims in the video to have brought down 10 military aircraft.
A claim the spokesman for the Nigerian Air Force says is mere propaganda.
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