There
are so many corpses the gunmen have difficulty stepping to reach bodies
still twitching with life. Most appear to be adult men.
"We
have made sure the floor of this hall is turned red with blood, and
this is how it is going to be in all future attacks and arrests of
infidels," the group leader says in a message. "From now, killing,
slaughtering, destructions and bombing will be our religious duty
anywhere we invade."
The
video released to journalists late Saturday comes two days after fleeing
villagers reported that the extremists are rounding up elderly people
and killing them in two schools in Gwoza, in northeast Nigeria.
The
setting of the latest video appears to be a school, a long dormitory
furnished with bunk beds which the leader says is in Bama, a town 60
kilometers (40 miles) north of Gwoza. Students and schools are
frequently targeted by Boko Haram, which means "Western education is
sinful" in the Hausa language.
Previously,
the militants had told residents of villages and towns that they would
kill only enemies and wanted people to live peacefully in the area they
have dubbed an Islamic caliphate, a large swath along Nigeria's
northeastern border with Cameroon that they have controlled for more
than three months.
In the video, the leader notes that the prophet
Mohammed advised prisoners should be held, not killed, but says "we
felt this is not the right time for us to keep prisoners; that is why we
will continue to see that the grounds are crimsoned with the flowing
blood of prisoners."He says some of those killed may call themselves Muslims, but are considered infidels by Boko Haram, a Sunni Jihadi group that imposes strict Shariah law.
Thousands
of people have been killed and about 1.6 million driven from their
homes in the 5-year insurgency that is spilling across borders into
Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
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