MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — With a malevolent laugh, the leader of Nigeria's Islamic extremists tells the world in a video that more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls have all been converted to Islam and married off, dashing hopes for their freedom.

"If you knew the state your daughters are in today, it might lead some of you . . . to die from grief," Abubakar Shekau sneers, addressing the parents of the girls and young women kidnapped from a remote boarding school over six months ago.

In the video released late Friday night, the Boko Haram leader also denies there is a cease-fire with the Nigerian government and threatens to kill an unidentified German hostage.

A German development worker was kidnapped at gunpoint in Gombi, a town in northeast Nigeria, in July. Police reported he was ambushed as he drove to work.

In the video, Shekau wears a camouflage tunic and pants, and the black and white flag of al-Qaida is by his side. He is flanked by masked fighters in front of four military pickups mounted with antiaircraft guns.

The military has several times claimed to have killed Shekau and says any new videos are made by a look-alike. But the United States has not removed a $7 million ransom on the head of the extremist leader.

On Oct. 17, Nigeria's military chief, Alex Badeh, announced that Boko Haram had agreed to a cease-fire to end a five-year insurgency in which thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have been driven from homes in northeast Nigeria. And officials said they expected the Chibok girls to be released any day.

But Shekau denies he has agreed to any truce and says he is dedicated to fighting and dying a martyr's death to guarantee him a place in paradise.