by James Sambo
A new Boko Haram video has emerged online.
The video shows the beheading of a man identified as the pilot of a missing Nigerian Air Force jet
The video also features Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, saying “Here I am, alive and I will remain alive until the day Allah takes away my breath,” the man says in the Hausa language. “Even if you kill me … it will not stop us imposing Islamic rule … We are still in our Islamic state, reigning and teaching the Koran.”
The video ends with a show of burnt out plane parts in rugged bush.
Two pilots and an Alpha jet have been missing since Sept. 11 in Yola on a bombing mission against Boko Haram.
The video shows a kneeling man in a camouflage vest with his right hand in a sling, with a fighter hovering over him with an axe, which is later used in the beheading.
Speaking in English, the victim identifies himself as a wing commander in the Nigerian Air Force and says he was undertaking a mission in Kauri area of Borno state on September 11.
“We were shot down and our aircraft crashed,” he says, appearing to keep his composure throughout the ordeal. “To this day I don’t know the whereabouts of my second pilot.”
Shekau claims in the video to have brought down 10 military aircraft.
Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters has denied speculation that Boko Haram brought down a helicopter gunship that crashed in August. The pilot died, two crew members survived.
