Reuters gathered on Wednesday that Abubakar Shekau, a former deputy leader of the Boko Haram sect, who was thought to have been killed by police in last year‘s fighting, offered condolences for the deaths of al Qaeda commanders in Iraq in the statement on a jihadist website.
”Do not think jihad is over. Rather jihad has just begun. O America, die with your fury,” the statement said. The translation of the statement, according to Reuters was published by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group.
SITE said the statement was addressed to al Qaeda affiliated groups in Algeria, Somalia and Yemen, as well as Iraq.
A five-day uprising by Boko Haram in Maiduguri and other cities in the northern part of the country over a year ago killed close to 800 people, as security forces fought days of gun battles to end rioting by sect members.
Boko Haram is one of a number of militant movements in northern Nigeria which wants sharia (Islamic law) to be imposed more widely in Africa‘s most populous nation.
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