Boko Haram Releases Video of Bombing Attacks on Nigerian Newspapers [VIDEO]

Nigerian Islamist terrorist sect Boko Haram has released an 18-minute video on YouTube in which it threatens to carry out another attack on the media after claiming responsibility for the suicide bombings of three newspapers, in which at least eight people were killed in Abuja and Kaduna.

The footage also shows coverage of the attacks, including a suicide bomber driving into the offices of the influential ThisDay newspaper in Abuja, which is viewed as being supportive of the regime.

In Kaduna a bomb went off in a building housing This Day, The Moment and the Daily Sun, which also support the government.

In the background, a narrator threatens Nigeria's central government, major Nigerian newspapers as well as the Hausa language services of Voice of America (VoA) and Radio France international (RFI).

Background music appears in the footage, which features singing in Hausa with the lyrics "Nigerians, our name is not Boko Haram, we are Muslims".

Boko Haram says in the video that it attacked ThisDay newspaper in Kaduna in relation to coverage of a beauty pageant held there in November 2002.

"We attacked ThisDay because we will never forget or forgive anyone who abused our prophet," the video says.

It said it carried out the suicide bombings against the media outlets because it was misrepresented in press reports, which were biased and unfairly depicted the group.

ThisDay was specifically targeted by Boko Haram because it had carried out a negative media campaign against it and, in 2002, ran an article that was blasphemous toward the Prophet Mohammed by suggesting that he would have married a Miss World contestant.

"The punishment for that is the person should be killed, especially when you're talking about Prophet Muhammad," the narrator says, adding: "These media houses have committed a lot of offences that are detrimental to Islam and we don't have the power to forgive them."

Threats have also been issued against other major Nigerian media outlets, including Punch, the Daily Sun, Vanguard, Guardian, Nation Tribune and National Accord. The sect is also threatening the local services of Voice of America and Radio France International.

Boko Haram warned the Nigerian authorities that they will demolish "500 buildings for any one of our houses that the government destroys".

The radical Islamist sect wants to impose Sharia law across Nigeria, which is currently split between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.

Since it stepped up its deadly operations in 2009, the group is reportedly responsible for the deaths of at least 1,000 people.

Attacks attributed to the sect have intensified over the past week.

In addition to the newspapers offices, the group has claimed responsibility for killing four people at a church service in the flashpoint city of Maiduguri. A further 15 worshippers were killed at another Christian service in a university theatre in the city of Kano.

The latest video issued by the group departs from earlier ones that have been released by including images of an attack for the first time.