The leader of Boko Haram says the militant group has forced the Nigerian army to retreat and has sustained little damage itself.

"Since we started this ongoing war, which they call state of emergency… in some instances soldiers who faced us turned and ran," Abubakar Shekau said in a video obtained by AFP on Tuesday.

On May 15, the Nigerian army launched an offensive against the militant group a day after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the three northeastern states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.

Shekau invited like-minded people in some other countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, to join the fight in Nigeria.

"We call to us our brethren in these countries I mentioned. Oh! Our brethren, come to us."


The Boko Haram leader said the group "will not stop the kidnap of your women and children until you set free our women and children, and our brethren."

On May 21, the Nigerian Defense Headquarters issued a statement, saying, the president had instructed them to release a number of detainees and "all women under custody."

Shekau’s claims that Boko Haram has gained the upper hand in the war are diametrically opposed to the recent statements of the Nigerian government, which says the militants are losing and are retreating in disarray.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly gun and bomb attacks in various parts of Nigeria since 2009.

Over the past four years, violence in the north of Africa’s most populous country has claimed the lives of 3,600 people, including killings by the security forces.