LEAD: Nigeria attacks "justified," Boko Haram leader says in video

Jan 11, 2012, 18:51 GMT

Abuja - The leader of the radical Islamist group, Boko Haram, has released an online video defending the spate of attacks in northern Nigeria.

The video, posted on YouTube Tuesday, shows Abubakar Shekau sitting against a green camouflage background, dressed in a traditional scarf and bullet-proof vest.

'The government will not defeat Boko Haram,' he says in the video. 'The attacks are justified.'

The group, which has been active for the past 10 years, has stepped up its campaign for recognition in recent weeks, killing at least 50 people since Christmas Day, when coordinated bomb blasts hit churches across the country.

On Tuesday, eight people were killed in an attack on a bar in the north-eastern city of Yobe. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but police sources said the perpetrators likely had links to Boko Haram.

In the south of the country, the Nigerian Red Cross said Wednesday that about 8,000 people had left the ancient city of Benin after an attack on a mosque killed five people the day before.

Nigeria's south is heavily Christian while the north is mainly Muslim.

Among those who fled the city was Mustapha Duste, a currency trader. 'In my 40 years here, this is the first time such violence has ever taken place,' he told dpa. 'The people here are generally peace loving.'

Duste added, 'If this is retaliation for Boko Haram's attacks, then it is unfair for us to pay such a price.'

Boko Haram is calling for Sharia law to be imposed across Nigeria.