Nigeria's Boko Haram leader claims Abuja, Lagos attacks in new video; voices support for ISIS

Nigerian Vice-President Namadi Sambo (centre) and his entourage look at the wreckage of a car at the scene of bomb blast at the crowded Emab Plaza that left 21 people dead and several others injured in Abuja, on June 26, 2014. The leader of Nige
Nigerian Vice-President Namadi Sambo (centre) and his entourage look at the wreckage of a car at the scene of bomb blast at the crowded Emab Plaza that left 21 people dead and several others injured in Abuja, on June 26, 2014. The leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists has claimed responsibility for a June 25 bombing in the capital Abuja and an attack the same day at a fuel depot in Lagos, in a new video seen by AFP on Sunday. -- PHOTO: AFP

LAGOS (AFP) - The leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists has claimed responsibility for a June 25 bombing in the capital Abuja and an attack the same day at a fuel depot in Lagos, in a new video seen by AFP on Sunday.

The authorities tried to cover up the Lagos attack, describing it as an industrial accident, but an AFP investigation revealed it was a deliberate explosion.

"I ordered (the bomber) who went and detonated it," Abubakar Shekau says of the Lagos bomb, while claiming responsibility for the "bomb in filthy Abuja" that killed at least 22 people.

He also voiced support for the extremist Sunni Islamic State (IS) militant group, also known as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

"My brethren... may Allah protect you," Shekau said in the video, listing IS chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

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