Nigeria’s Boko Haram militants have just released a video, with a person who spoke without identifying himself re-affirming their allegiance to the Islamic State group and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

He asserted that Boko Haram, also known as IS West Africa Province, was still under the leadership of Abubakar Shekau, who hasn’t appeared in a video since February.

The man, who spoke in both Arabic and heavily accented Hausa, denied recent claims by the Nigerian military that some members of Boko Haram had surrendered to the army.

He also denied that the military had rescued a number of women and children abducted by Boko Haram, saying the security forces had failed on the battled front and were now resorting to a media campaign to rubbish the insurgents.

The violent campaign by the group would not be derailed, he said. (BBC)

•Photo shows a Boko Haram new leader reading a speech in the new video.