In a four-minute audio clip released on Tuesday, the Islamic terror group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of an estimated 668 schoolboys from a secondary school in northern Nigeria on December 11.

“Our brothers are behind the kidnapping in Katsina,” said a voice on the recording identified as that of Boko Haram’s leader, Abubaker Shekau. “What happened in Katsina was done to promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western education is not the type of education permitted by Allah and his Holy Prophet.”

“They are also not teaching what Allah and his Holy Prophet commanded. They are rather destroying Islam. It may be subtle, but Allah the lord of the skies and earths knows whatever is hidden. May Allah promote Islam. May we die as Muslims,” Shekau added.

That’s odd — we’re repeatedly told by the news media and government officials that Islam rejects the very idea of terrorism, and that jihadist terror stems from social injustice like poverty and alienation rather than Islamic ideology.

“Residents and survivors said the abductors rode to the school in about 100 motorbikes, firing assault rifles to escape into the bush after dividing the boys into groups,” the Anadolu Agency revealed on Tuesday. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a rescue operation, but the kidnappers demanded that the military call off its search. “At least 17 of the students were rescued on Monday after a gun battle between military forces and the armed group,” according to the Agency.