Islamist rebel group Boko Haram has denied the Nigerian government’s claims that it has agreed to a ceasefire.

The denial is made in a new video which comes after a surprise Nigerian military and presidency announcement three weeks ago that a deal had been reached with the militants to end hostilities.

The group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, also claimed more than two hundred schoolgirls abducted from the remote northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok in April had converted to Islam and been married off.

Human Rights Watch said in a report that Boko Haram was holding upwards of 500 women and young girls and that forced marriage was commonplace in the militant camps.