Nigeria (AP) \u2014 Boko Haram, the extremist Islamic group In Nigeria, has<\/p>\n
published a video that shows charred plane wreckage and the beheading of a
\nman identified as a pilot of a missing Nigerian Air Force jet, bolstering
\nthe group’s claims that it shot down a fighter plane.<\/p>\n
The video also allegedly features Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, a man
\nNigeria’s military twice has claimed to kill \u2014 first in 2009 and again
\nlast year. Two weeks ago the military said they had killed a Shekau
\nlookalike who had posed in the group’s videos.<\/p>\n
“Here I am, alive, and I will remain alive until the day Allah takes away
\nmy breath,” the man says in the Hausa language. “Even if you kill me …
\nit will not stop us imposing Islamic rule … We are still in our Islamic
\nstate, reigning and teaching the Quran.”<\/p>\n
The United States still has a $7 million bounty on Shekau’s head.<\/p>\n
The video was made available to The Associated Press through the same
\nchannels used previously and seems to show the same man. Nigeria’s Defense
\nHeadquarters suggested in a blog that the insurgents had manipulated
\nimages and cloned “another Shekau.”<\/p>\n
In the video, the man identified as Shekau says Boko Haram is implementing
\nstrict Shariah law in areas of northeast Nigeria under its control.
\nExamples are shown, including the stoning death of a man apparently
\naccused of adultery; the amputation of the hand of a young man accused of
\ntheft; the lashings of a man and what appears to be a girl covered in a
\nhijab.<\/p>\n
The video ends with a show of burnt-out plane parts in rugged bush. Two
\npilots and an Alpha jet have been missing since Sept. 11 when it left the
\nnortheastern town of Yola on a bombing mission against Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
The video shows a kneeling man in a camouflage vest with his right hand in
\na sling, with a fighter hovering over him with an ax, which is later used
\nin the beheading.<\/p>\n
Speaking in English, the victim identifies himself as a wing commander in
\nthe Nigerian Air Force and says he was undertaking a mission in Kauri area
\nof northeast Borno state.<\/p>\n
“We were shot down and our aircraft crashed,” he says. “To this day I
\ndon’t know the whereabouts of my second pilot.”<\/p>\n
The insurgents have stolen military hardware from Nigerian forces,
\nprobably including anti-aircraft weapons.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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