Nigeria: Boko Haram leader denies child murders

The leader of the extremist Islamist sect Boko Haram has threatened to burn down more schools and kill teachers but denied his fighters were killing children.

In a video released yesterday Abubakar Shekau denied his group was negotiating a peace deal with the Nigerian government.

He said he supported fighters who burned down schools in north-east Nigeria in recent weeks but added that the Koran forbade the killing of children, women and the elderly. Dozens of children have been killed.

He then warned: “School teachers who are teaching western education? We will kill them! We will kill them.”