Boko Haram Releases Video Message of Abuja Bus Station Bombing

The leader of Nigeria’s boko haram Islamists, Abubakar Shekau, has claimed responsibility for the Monday bombing in Nigeria’s capital that killed at least 75 people.  The video message, rare for the Islamist group following any dramatic attack, is circulating widely and a copy of it was obtained by SaharaReporters late Saturday afternoon.

“We are the ones that carried out the attack in Abuja,” Shekau said in the nearly half hour video. He was  referring to the deadliest attack ever recorded in Nigeria’s capital. The car bomb attack, which targeted a bus station packed with morning commuters, caught Nigerian officials and the general public by surprise. It was sudden and came without warning.

In the video Shekau is seen seated with a kalashnikov rifle resting on his left shoulder. He is dressed in a green colored military uniform, the same type of uniform seen by eyewitnesses in recent attacks by the terrorist group that includes a raid at when they’ve carried out  the insurgent commander spoke in both Arabic and the Hausa language that is dominant in northern Nigeria.

The message was delivered to AFP in a manner consistent with previous videos from boko haram.

The bombing at the Nyanya bus terminal on the outskirts of Abuja was the first major attack in the capital in two years.

Most of the insurgents’ violence in recent months had been concentrated in the group’s remote northeastern stronghold, where the military is waging an 11-month-old offensive.

The attack in Abuja underscored the serious threat the Islamists pose to Africa’s most populous country and top economy.

Shekau indicated that boko haram has fighters based in the capital.

“We are in your city,” he said, addressing Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan.

Shekau has been declared a global terrorist by the United States, which has put a $7 million bounty (5.1 million euros) on his head.

Hours after the Abuja bombing, gunmen stormed a girls’ school in the northeast and kidnapped 129 students, an attack also blamed on boko haram that has sparked global outrage.

Forty-four of the girls have escaped so far, according to officials, and the military has said it has launched a major search and rescue operation.