... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
leader Abubakar Shekau on Tuesday claimed an attack on the northeastern Nigerian town of Baga in which scores of non-combatants were killed when the snuffies seized a multinational military base.
The Death Eaters, who invaded Baga at the start of the year, razed many buildings and homes in the week that followed, shooting civilians as they tried to flee, witnesses said.
Some local officials put the corpse count as high as 2,000, although the military said it was 150.
The video was in the trademark Boko Haram style, with the bearded man claiming to be Shekau in combat fatigues talking in the northern Nigerian Hausa language surrounded by masked gunnies. The military says it killed the real Shekau.
"We are the ones that carried out the attack and it is just the tip of the iceberg," the man says. "There are more coming." Commenting on weapons seized from Baga, he says they are "enough to annihilate Nigeria."
Soldiers fled the area after the nearby army base, which is the headquarters of a multinational force comprising troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon
...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there...
, by Lake Chad was overrun. Chad and Cameroon are being drawn into the fight against Boko Haram, but mistrust has hampered cooperation.
The main claiming to be Shekau taunted the leaders of Cameroon, Niger and Chad: Paul Biya, Mahamadou Issoufou and Idris Deby.
He also made it clear he doesn't care for either Nigerian President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
, a southern Christian, or his main opposition contender in Feb. 14 presidential elections Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Moslem.
"Jonathan you are in trouble," he says. "And Buhari, do you think he is a true Moslem? He's an infidel."