ABUJA, Nigeria — A man purporting to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau on Tuesday claimed responsibility for an attack on the northeastern town of Baga in which scores of civilians were killed. The insurgents razed many buildings and homes, shooting civilians as they tried to flee, witnesses said. Some local officials put the death toll 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 gunmen. 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." NBC News could not immediately verify the video's authenticity.
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