Boko Haram video
Boko Haram has reportedly released a video purportedly showing the execution of eight villagers in northeast Nigeria who were accused of opposing their sharia law - File photo Youtube screenshot

An unverified video has reportedly emerged that shows Boko Haram militants publicly executing eight people in a village in northeast Nigeria for opposing Sharia law.

The video, seen by AFP news agency, reportedly featured a man wearing a white turban who told the villagers that those being executed were "apostates (who) have left the fold of Islam". He equated the victims with Nigerian soldiers and spies.

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The man also warned the villagers that they would meet a similar fate if they tried to defy their "Sharia police". The executed villagers were first blindfolded and made to lay on the ground face down.

Four masked gunmen are then seen shooting at them from a close range as a crowd is heard cheering the killings.

"These people are not different from vigilantes fighting us, spies and Nigerian soldiers," the unidentified man in the video is heard saying in Hausa, the language widely spoken in northern Nigeria and the Lake Chad area where the Isis-linked Islamist militant group is active.

The video also showed other punishments meted out by their Sharia police, including stoning to death for adultery, beheading for drug dealing, amputations for theft and flogging for drinking alcohol.

The AFP wrote that it was not clear when or where the gruesome video was recorded, but lush vegetation in the background indicated it could be the ongoing rainy season.

Nigeria army has so far claimed that they have virtually defeated the militant group, who had established their caliphate in major parts of Nigeria, Niger and Chad basin. The latest video and recent attacks carried out by the group disputes the army's claims.

In the most recent attacks, Boko Haram suicide bombers killed nearly 10 people in a village in Nigeria's Borno state on Tuesday (11 July) night. Three explosions were reported by residents of Molai village, located on the outskirts of Maiduguri-Damboa road. Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state and has witnessed many such Boko Haram attacks in the past.