New claimant to Boko Haram leadership has pledged to 'blow up every church we can'

An Islamist named by ISIS as the new leader of Boko Haram has pledged to blow up every church the terrorist group can reach.

Abu Musab al-Barnawi, thought to be a pseudonym, was named by the ISIS newspaper al-Nabaa on Wednesday as the new "Wali," or governor, of its so-called West Africa Province.

However, in a statement released the following day, the previous leader Abubakar Shekau said he was still in charge of Boko Haram. That has led to speculation that the organisation has split.

In a published interview, Al-Barnawi has claimed that there was a Western plot to 'Christianise' the region, and that Boko Haram would respond to that by "booby-trapping and blowing up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those (Christians) who we find from the citizens of the cross."