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Agence France-Presse

Jihadists aligned to the Islamic State group have released a video claiming to show the execution of 11 Christians in restive northeast Nigeria.
The footage posted online late on Thursday by Isis-linked propaganda arm Amaq showed 11 blindfolded men being shot and stabbed by jihadists from the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) at an undisclosed location.
“This is a message to Christians all over the world,” said a masked man in the one-minute video.
He claimed the killings were in reprisal for the death of Isis chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his spokesman.


Baghdadi killed himself in October to avoid capture during a US special forces raid on his hideout in the province of Idlib in northwest Syria.
In recent months, ISWAP has intensified its attacks on Christians, security personnel and aid staff, setting up roadblocks on motorways and conducting searches.
The United Nations on Tuesday condemned the “increasing practice by armed groups to set up checkpoints targeting civilians” in the northeast of Nigeria.
On Sunday, the jihadists killed six people and abducted five others including two aid workers when they intercepted vehicles on a highway on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
Who’s the Baghdadi: after Isis chief’s death, who fills the void?
In a similar attack on December 5, ISWAP fighters disguised as Nigerian soldiers stopped and searched vehicles at a checkpoint near Maiduguri.
The group claimed in a statement that six soldiers and eight civilians, including two Red Cross workers, were among those abducted in that attack.
Last week the group released a video showing 11 alleged hostages.
One of the detainees in the video who identified himself as a schoolteacher said all the 11 hostages were Christians and appealed to the Nigerian government to secure their release.


Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said Friday that he was “saddened and shocked by the death of innocent hostages in the hands of remorseless, godless, callous gangs of mass murderers”.
“We should, under no circumstance, let the terrorists divide us by turning Christians against Muslims because these barbaric killers don’t represent Islam,” he said in a statement.
Buhari pledged to “continue to intensify our efforts towards strengthening international cooperation and collaboration to break the backbone of these evildoers”.
The decade-long jihadist insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed over 36,000 people and displaced around 2 million, according to the United Nations.
‘The ultimate fighter’: Trump shows off Conan the dog from Baghdadi raid
The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.
ISWAP pledged allegiance to Baghdadi in 2016 and split from the main insurgent group Boko Haram.
It stepped up attacks on military outposts and troops in mid-2018, but has increasingly begun targeting civilians.
The Nigerian government has repeatedly said that the insurgency is defeated but the jihadists maintain the ability to strike across swathes of territory.


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Survivors recount terror of Nigeria massacre where people were burned inside houses

Dozens of kidnapped Nigerian Christians released from captivity

Nigerian army kills top Boko Haram commander, 10 militants in night raid

Islamic State

Isis claims execution of 11 Christians in Nigeria in revenge for death of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

A vehicle allegedly belonging to the Islamic State West African Province group is seen in Baga, Nigeria, in August. Photo: AFP

Islamic State names Baghdadi successor, slamming ‘crazy old man’ Donald Trump and threatening revenge on US

Late Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is seen in an undated picture released on Wednesday. Isis has confirmed Baghdadi’s death. Photo: US Department of Defence via Reuters

Over 300 students found chained, sexually abused in Nigeria Islamic school

A sign is seen above a house, where police rescued men and boys in Nigeria. Photo: Reuters

22,000 missing in Nigeria because of Boko Haram, Red Cross says

Smouldering ashes and charred items are seen on the ground after an attack by Boko Haram fighters in northeast Nigeria. Photo: AFP

People gather at the site of an attack in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018, after dozens of attackers overpowered soldiers guarding the camp and fighting continued for about two hours. Authorities in northeast Nigeria say at least eight people are dead after militants attacked a camp for displaced people. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

A Nigerian soldier, with a rocket propelled grenade (RPG), patrols on the outskirt of the town of Damasak in North East Nigeria on April, 25 2017 as thousands of Nigerians, who were freed in 2016 by the Nigerian army from Boko Haram insurgents, are returning to their homes in Damasak. Yagana Bukar's younger brothers Mohammed and Sadiq were among about 300 children kidnapped by Boko Haram from the town of Damasak in remote northeastern Nigeria nearly three years ago. But instead of the global outrage and social media campaign that followed a similar abduction of 219 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, there were no protests for the children of Damasak. / AFP PHOTO / Florian PLAUCHEUR

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Online footage posted shows blindfolded men being shot and stabbed by jihadist at undisclosed location
Masked man in video calls killings a ‘message to Christians all over the world’



Online footage posted shows blindfolded men being shot and stabbed by jihadist at undisclosed location; masked man in video calls killings a ‘message to Christians all over the world’.


Islamic militancy

Terrorism

Isis claims execution of 11 Christians in Nigeria in revenge for death of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Online footage posted shows blindfolded men being shot and stabbed by jihadist at undisclosed location Masked man in video calls killings a ‘message to Christians all over the world’

Online footage posted shows blindfolded men being shot and stabbed by jihadist at undisclosed location

Masked man in video calls killings a ‘message to Christians all over the world’