Boko Haram's long-time leader Abubakar Shekau has said in an audio message he is "still around" despite his reported removal as leader of the Nigeria-based armed group by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
ISIL had previously named Abu Musab al-Barnawi as Boko Haram's new leader, prompting the message from Shekau.
"People should know we are still around," Shekau said in the 10-minute message on Thursday.
In an interview published by the ISIL newspaper Al Nabaa on Wednesday, Barnawi, the ISIL appointee, threatened to bomb churches and kill Christians while ending attacks on mosques and markets used by Muslims.
"They strongly seek to Christianise the society. They exploit the condition of those who are displaced under the raging war, providing them with food and shelter and then Christianising their children," SITE Intelligence Group quotes the new leader as saying.
Barnawi said the fighters will respond by "booby-trapping and blowing up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those (Christians) who we find from the citizens of the cross".
"They strongly seek to Christianise the society. They exploit the condition of those who are displaced under the raging war, providing them with food and shelter and then Christianising their children," SITE Intelligence Group quotes the new leader as saying.
Barnawi said the fighters will respond by "booby-trapping and blowing up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those (Christians) who we find from the citizens of the cross".
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