Boko Haram claims responsibility for massacre of 2,000 in Nigeria

(Image credit: Reuters/YouTube)

published 21 January 2015

In a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday, a man claiming to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau took responsibility for the massacre of up to 2,000 civilians in Baga, a town in northeast Nigeria, on Jan. 3. "We are the ones who fought the people of Baga, and we have killed them with such a killing," Shekau said, according to a translation by SITE Intelligence. In the video below, Reuters notes that Nigeria claims to have killed Shekau. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.