“If you indeed crushed us, how can you see me like this? How many times have you killed us in your bogus death?”

It was not immediately clear where the new video was shot, but Shekau, who spoke in both Hausa and Arabic, said it was filmed on Christmas Day.

He pledged to continue fighting on until an Islamic state was imposed in northern Nigeria.

“Our aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate and we have our own Caliphate, we are not part of Nigeria,” he says.

Buhari had announced that a sustained military campaign in the 1,300sq km Sambisa Forest in northeastern Borno state had led to the “final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest”.

The government in Abuja and the military frequently claim victories against Boko Haram.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Tuesday , Brigadier-General Victor Ezugwu, a Nigerian army commander, said his soldiers had made significant gains against Boko Haram.

The army has claimed victory over Boko Haram in its stronghold, having captured the Sambisa Forest in the country’s east over the weekend.

“We are on top of the situation, all hands are still on deck,” Ezugwu told Al Jazeera. “This defeat is final and it [Boko Haram] will not spread to other parts of West Africa.”

Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks recently, after a months-long pause in their seven-year uprising that has killed more than 20,000 people. The conflict has triggered a humanitarian crisis.

Nearly 15,000 civilians have been killed since the armed rebellion began in 1999 [Reuters]
 Boko Haram’s campaign began in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, though it has since spread beyond Nigeria’s borders to Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Nearly 15,000 civilians have been killed since the armed rebellion was launched in 1999. The insurgency has forced some 2.6 million others to flee their homes since 2009.

The violence has led to a dire humanitarian crisis in the region, with thousands of children facing the risk of famine and starvation.

  • With online reports