#News: Boko Haram leader denies deal

[CNN]

 (CNN) -- Boko Haram laughed off Nigeria's announcement of a ceasefire agreement, saying there is no such deal and the abducted schoolgirls have been converted to Islam and married off.

Nigerian officials announced two weeks ago that they had struck a deal with the Islamist terror group.

The deal, the government said, included the release of more than 200 girls whose kidnapping in April at a boarding school in the nation's north stunned the world.

In a video released Saturday, the Islamist group's notorious leader fired off a series of denials.

No sign of girls after Boko Haram deal     Nigeria: Girls are well, returning soon     Nigeria: Schoolgirls to be free 'shortly'     Boko Haram hostages freed in Cameroon             Police in riot gear block a route in Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday, October 14, during a demonstration calling on the Nigerian government to rescue schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. In April, more than 200 girls were abducted from their boarding school in northeastern Nigeria, officials and witnesses said.       Women in Abuja hold a candlelight vigil on Wednesday, May 14, one month after the schoolgirls were kidnapped.       People march in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday, May 12, to demand the release of the kidnapped schoolgirls.       Catholic faithful in Abuja take Holy Communion and pray for the safety of the kidnapped schoolgirls on Sunday, May 11.       Catholic faithful attend a morning Mass in honor of the kidnapped schoolgirls in Abuja on May 11.       Catholics nuns pray in Abuja on May 11.       A woman attends a demonstration Tuesday, May 6, that called for the Nigerian government to rescue the girls.       Community leader Hosea Sambido speaks during a May 6 rally in Abuja.       Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, Nigeria's top military spokesman, speaks to people at a demonstration May 6 in Abuja.       Women march Monday, May 5, in Chibok, Nigeria.       People rally in Lagos on Thursday, May 1.       Police stand guard during a demonstration in Lagos on May 1.       Protesters take part in a "million-woman march" Wednesday, April 30, in Abuja.       Obiageli Ezekwesili, former Nigerian education minister and vice president of the World Bank's Africa division, leads a march of women in Abuja on April 30.       A woman cries out during a demonstration in Abuja on Tuesday, April 29, along with other mothers whose daughters have been kidnapped.       A man weeps as he joins parents of the kidnapped girls during a meeting with the Borno state governor in Chibok on Tuesday, April 22.        Mothers weep April 22 during a meeting with the Borno state governor in Chibok.       Four female students who were abducted by gunmen and reunited with their families walk in Chibok on Monday, April 21.       Borno state Gov. Kashim Shettima, center, visits the girls' school in Chibok on April 21.       Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls Nigerians protest over kidnapped schoolgirls HIDE CAPTION   << <      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9      10      11      12      13      14      15      16      17      18      19   > >>     Photos: Nigerians protest over kidnapped girls               A video of Abubakar Shekau, who claims to be the leader of the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, is shown in September 2013. Boko Haram is an Islamist militant group waging a campaign of violence in northern Nigeria. The group's ambitions range from the stricter enforcement of Sharia law to the total destruction of the Nigerian state and its government. Click through to see recent bloody incidents in this strife-torn West African nation:              Bodies lie in the streets in Maiduguri, Nigeria, after religious clashes on July 31, 2009. Boko Haram exploded onto the national scene in 2009 when 700 people were killed in widespread clashes across the north between the group and the Nigerian military.        An official displays burned equipment inside a prison in Bauchi, Nigeria, on September 9, 2010, after the prison was attacked by suspected members of Boko Haram two days earlier. About 720 inmates escaped during the prison break, and police suspect the prison was attacked because it was holding 80 members of the sect.       Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, second from left, stands on the back of a vehicle after being sworn-in as President during a ceremony in the capital of Abuja on May 29, 2011. In December 2011, Jonathan declared a state of emergency in parts of the country afflicted by violence from Boko Haram.       Rescue workers help a wounded person from a U.N. building in Abuja, Nigeria, on August 26, 2011. The building was rocked by a bomb that killed at least 23 people, leaving others trapped and causing heavy damage. Boko Haram had claimed responsibility for the attack in which a Honda packed with explosives rammed into the U.N. building, shattering windows and setting the place afire.        A photo taken on November 6, 2011, shows state police headquarters burned by a series of attacks that targeted police stations, mosques and churches in Damaturu, Nigeria, on November 4, 2011. Attackers left scores injured -- probably more than 100 -- in a three-hour rampage, and 63 people died.       Men look at the wreckage of a car after a bomb blast at St. Theresa Catholic Church outside Abuja on December 25, 2011. A string of bombs struck churches in five Nigerian cities, leaving dozens dead and wounded on the Christmas holiday, authorities and witnesses said. Boko Haram's targets included police outposts and churches as well as places associated with "Western influence."       A paramedic helps a young man as he leaves a hospital in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on January 21, 2012. A spate of bombings and shootings left more than 200 people dead in Nigeria's second-largest city. Three days later, a joint military task force in Nigeria arrested 158 suspected members of Boko Haram.       A photo taken on June 18, 2012, shows a car vandalized after three church bombings and retaliatory attacks in northern Nigeria killed at least 50 people and injured more than 130 others, the Nigerian Red Cross Society said.        A French family kidnapped February 19, 2013, in northern Cameroon is released after two months in captivity in Nigeria. The family of four children, their parents and an uncle were kidnapped in Waza National Park in northern Cameroon, situated near the border with Nigeria. One of the captive men read a statement demanding that Nigeria and Cameroon free jailed members of Boko Haram.       A soldier stands in front of a damaged wall and the body of a prison officer killed during an attack on a prison in the northeastern Nigerian town of Bama on May 7, 2013. Two soldiers were killed during coordinated attacks on multiple targets. Nigeria's military said more than 100 Boko Haram militants carried out the attack.        A deserted student hostel is shown on August 6, 2013, after gunmen stormed a school in Yobe state, killing 20 students and a teacher, state media reported.       A photograph made available by the Nigerian army on August 13, 2013, shows improvised explosive devices, bomb-making materials and detonators seized from a Boko Haram hideout. Gunmen attacked a mosque in Nigeria with automatic weapons on August 11, 2013, killing at least 44 people.       Nigerian students from Jos Polytechnic walk on campus in Jos, Nigeria, on September 30, 2013. Under the cover of darkness, gunmen approached a college dormitory in a rural Nigerian town and opened fire on students who were sleeping. At least 40 students died, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.       Soldiers stand outside the 79 Composite Group Air Force base that was attacked earlier in Maiduguri on December 2. Hundreds of Boko Haram militants attacked an Air Force base and a military checkpoint, according to government officials.       Catholic priest Georges Vandenbeusch speaks to reporters outside Paris after his release on January 1. Vandenbeusch was snatched from his parish church in Cameroon on November 13. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for kidnapping the priest.              A man receives treatment at Konduga specialist hospital after a gruesome attack on January 26. It was suspected that Boko Haram militants opened fire on a village market and torched homes in the village of Kawuri, killing at least 45 people.       Police officers stand guard in front of the burned remains of homes and businesses in the village of Konduga on February 12. Suspected Boko Haram militants torched houses in the village, killing at least 23 people, according to the governor of Borno state on February 11.       Yobe state Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam, left, looks at the bodies of students inside an ambulance outside a mosque in Damaturu. At least 29 students died in an attack on a federal college in Buni Yadi, near the capital of Yobe state, Nigeria's military said on February 26. Authorities suspect Boko Haram carried out the assault in which several buildings were also torched.       Rescue workers try to put out a fire after a bomb exploded at the busiest roundabout near the crowded Monday Market in Maiduguri on July 1.       Police in riot gear block a route in Abuja on October 14, during a demonstration calling on the Nigerian government to rescue schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. In April, more than 200 girls were abducted from their boarding school in northeastern Nigeria, officials and witnesses said.       Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis HIDE CAPTION   << <      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9      10      11      12      13      14      15      16      17      18      19      20      21      22      23   > >>     Boko Haram: Nigeria's crisis     "Don't you know the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls have converted to Islam?" Abubakar Shekau said. "They have now memorized two chapters of the Koran."

Shekau slammed reports of their planned release.

"We married them off. They are in their marital homes," he said, chuckling.

The group's leader also denied knowing the negotiator with whom the government claimed it worked out a deal, saying he does not represent Boko Haram.

"We will not spare him and will slaughter him if we get him," he said of the negotiator.

In addition to denying the deal, he vowed more attacks, more "war, striking and killing with gun."

It wasn't clear when the video was made.

Shekau also said the militant group was holding a German hostage. CNN's attempts to reach officials of Chad, who helped strike the purported deal, were unsuccessful Saturday.

The ceasefire deal announced October 17 followed a month of negotiations with representatives of the group, Hassan Tukur, an aide to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, said at the time.

Nigerian officials met with Boko Haram in Chad twice during talks mediated by Chadian President Idriss Deby, according to the aide.

After the deal was announced, the aide said final negotiations on the girls' release would be completed at a meeting a week later in Chad.

That day passed without any signs of the girls.

Despite government claims of a ceasefire, Boko Haram fighters have continued deadly attacks on villages, killing scores and abducting an unknown number of people. One attack a day after the purported ceasefire killed eight people.

Days later, members of the Islamist terror group abducted at least 60 young women and girls from Christian villages in northeast Nigeria, residents said Thursday.

Heavily armed fighters left 1,500 naira, or about $9, and kolanuts as a bride price for each of the women abducted, residents said.

The militant group, which shuns western education, is trying to impose strict Sharia law across Nigeria, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south. Like ISIS, it has ambitions for a caliphate, or religious state.

The group's attacks have intensified in recent years in an apparent show of defiance for the nation's military onslaught. Its ambitions appear to have expanded to the destruction of the government.

As part of its insurgency, it has bombed schools, churches and mosques, kidnapped women and children and assassinated politicians and religious leaders alike.

CNN's Lillian Leposo and Christabelle Fombu contributed to this report.
Source: CNN

[CNN]