French news agency AFP reports that a man claiming to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has appeared in a new video, contradicting Nigerian military reports that he had been killed. Screen grabs of the video, seen by Reuters, show a figure in boots and combat fatigues who looks a lot like the man claiming to be Shekau in previous videos.
“Here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath,” he says in the northern Hausa language, reported the news agency, which normally receives Boko Haram tapes first, before they are distributed online.