An Islamic State group in Nigeria has claimed that they have executed 11 blindfolded Christian men in a video that analysts say was timed to coincide with Christmas.
"This is a message to Christians all over the world," a masked man said in the 56-second video posted online late Thursday by the Amaq news agency of the group, the Islamic State West African Province, the New York Post reports.
The man claimed the killings — one was shot to death and the others beheaded — were to "avenge" the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October during a raid led by U.S. Special Forces in Syria.
Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest in the raid.
The ISIS group would only say that the victims were "captured in the past weeks" in the Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, the BBC reports.
The deaths marked the largest number by the group at one time, according to the BBC.
"We killed them as revenge for the killing of our leaders, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and [ISIS spokesman] Abul-Hasan al-Muhajir," said a member of the group's media unit, Ahmad Salkida, a journalist who was first sent the video, told the BBC.
The group pledged allegiance to Baghdadi in 2016 and split from ISIS-linked group Boko Haram, according to reports, and increased attacks on military outposts and troops last year.
The jihadists have also been increasingly targeting civilians, including Christians, security personnel and aides. They also have been setting up roadblocks on highways and conducting searches, Agence France-Presse reports.
The United Nations has condemned the "increasing practice by armed groups to set up checkpoints targeting civilians" in northeastern Nigeria, the Post reports.
Six people were killed and five others abducted on Sunday after jihadists captured vehicles on a highway near Maiduguri, Borno's state capital, according to reports.
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