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Boko Haram Attacks Maiduguri, Releases Video of Militants Shooting Wounded Nigerian Soldiers

Witness reports 20 dead in deadly assault on same day the militant group releases new video under its rebranded name, the Islamic State's West Africa Province.

Boko Haram launched an assault on the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing as many as 20 people Tuesday. The violence follows a string of deadly attacks in the area over the weekend and comes on the same day the group released a gruesome video showing militants shooting government-allied soldiers in the head at point-blank range.

Witnesses report that a series of explosions rocked Maiduguri this morning. One resident, Sumaila Ayuba, told the Associated Press, "We are under siege."

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Ayuba said the explosions had woken her up and called the shooting "quite deafening."

Later in the day, a suicide bomber detonated himself at a cattle market, where the militants had previously carried out other bombings. The National Emergency Management Agency estimated that 10 people had died and more had been injured. A witness told the AP he saw at least 20 bodies.

The renewed violence follows the deaths of at least 30 people after the Islamist rebel group reportedly shot rocket-propelled grenades and conducted a suicide bombing in the same city over the weekend.

The latest round of violence Tuesday came on the same day that Boko Haram released a new video under its rebranded name, the Islamic State's West Africa Province. It was the first video the group has released since it declared itself an ally of the so-called Islamic State militant group, which is currently waging a violent insurgency in Iraq in Syria.

The 10-minute long video, titled "Attacks by the Soldiers of the Caliphate in West Africa," features footage of Boko Haram fighters shooting injured Nigerian soldiers in the head. The militants also behead a man who appears to be wearing civilian clothing.

In the video, a masked fighter — flanked by fellow militants perched on trucks — talks to the camera and denies that the Islamist extremist group has lost control of territory, or that it has been worn down by military assaults, as regional governments have claimed in recent weeks.

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The fighter says the video gives the group the opportunity to expose the "liars." He then calls the joint coalition forces from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger — working together to combat Boko Haram — the "lying coalition partners who sent their armies against us."

"Allah knows the reality on the ground," the fighter said, adding: "most of our territory is still under control."

Notably, the group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, does not appear in the video, as he has in previous ones. According to the AP, Nigeria's military has made multiple claims that its forces have killed Shekau. Those claims are still unsubstantiated.

The speaker in the latest video also references alleged disunity between the regional coalition members fighting Boko Haram. Nigeria's newly inaugurated President Muhammadu Buhari is set to travel to Chad and Niger on Wednesday, marking his first official foreign trips as leader.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.