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Boko Haram beheadings footage echoes Isis video techniques
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The Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram has released a video that purportedly shows militants beheading two men, its first online posting using the advanced graphics and editing techniques associated with Islamic State.
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The film, released on Monday, opens with two men on their knees, their hands tied behind their backs, and a militant standing over them holding a knife.
One of the kneeling men is made to tell the camera that they were paid by authorities to spy on the group, before another scene shows the men’s decapitated bodies. It was not possible to confirm the film’s authenticity or date.
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The use of graphics, footage of black-clad militants with a black flag, and editing to show only the aftermath of the beheadings are particularly similar to footage from Isis, which has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria and killed several hostages.
The footage will stoke concerns that Boko Haram, which evolved out of a clerical movement focused on north-east Nigeria, is expanding its scope and seeking inspiration from global militant networks including al-Qaida and Isis.
The group has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds in a drive to carve out an Islamist state in the country, and in recent months has increased its number of cross-border raids into Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, has said that Boko Haram is allied to both al-Qaida and Isis, though that has not been confirmed by the militants.
In the film, one of the men says he comes from Baga, in Borno state, and the other says he is from Michika, in Adamawa state– areas in which the army says it has recently recaptured territory from the militants.
Past Boko Haram films have been cruder, often featuring a man identified as the leader Abubakar Shekau discussing local gripes instead of preaching global jihad. But recent videos have featured increasingly gruesome footage of beheadings.
