Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for the recent massacre of hundreds of people in the northeast Nigerian town of Baga and made renewed threats to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon in a video published online on Tuesday.

The message came as Nigerian leaders met their regional counterparts in Niger’s capital, Niamey, to discuss a regional response to the threat and Chadian troops headed to Cameroon to help repel repeated Boko Haram attacks.

The US president Barack Obama discussed the Nigerian crisis with French president francois Hollande on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The White House said the pair spoke about the situation in a telephone call, agreeing to work with other countries to help Nigeria hold credible and peaceful elections and to support a regional strategy to counter Boko Haram.

“Heavy clashes” between Islamist fighters and Cameroon soldiers were reported in the far northern border village of Bonderi on Tuesday night.

Hundreds of people, if not more, are feared to have been killed in the attack on Baga, a fishing town on the shores of Lake Chad, in what could be the militants’ worst in their six-year rebellion.

The rebels burnt large parts of the town to the ground after taking control in early January. They then razed at least 16 surrounding settlements, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes, many of them into Chad and Niger.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

“We killed the people of Baga. We indeed killed them, as our Lord instructed us in His Book,” Shekau said in the 35-minute message, which was obtained by AFP.

The militant leader was shown speaking in front of four white pick-up trucks, with eight masked and heavily armed men.

But there was no indication of when or where the video was shot.

Survivors of the Baga attack, which also saw Boko Haram fighters capture a military base used by Nigerian, Nigerian and Chadian troops, have described how bodies still littered the streets.

Shekau dismissed the extent of the slaughter, saying: “We will not stop. This is not much. You’ll see.”

Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama, has suggested a new force, possibly under the auspices of the African Union, to crush the group.



But in the video, Shekau dismisses the threat and shows off a huge arsenal of weapons, apparently from the military base, and said Boko Haram would take on all-comers.

“The kings of Africa, you are late. I challenge you to attack me even now. I’m ready,” he said.