The leader of Nigeria's Islamist group Boko Haram said his fighters were now ruling the captured northeastern town of Gwoza "by Islamic law" in the first video to state a territorial claim in more than five years of violent insurrection.
The Nigerian military denied Boko Haram had taken control of the town during fighting over the past week, although security sources and some witnesses said police and military there had been pushed out.
Abubakar Shekau's forces have killed thousands since launching an uprising in 2009, and are seen as the biggest security threat to the continent's leading energy producer.