LONDON (Reuters) – Nigeria’s militant Islamist group Boko Haram pledged allegiance on Saturday to Islamic State, which rules a self-declared caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, according to an audio clip posted online.
The symbolic move highlights increased coordination between jihadi movements across north Africa and the Middle East and prompted an appeal from Nigeria’s government for greater international help in tackling the Boko Haram insurgency.
Boko Haram has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds during its six-year campaign to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria. In recent months it has increased cross-border raids into Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
“We announce our allegiance to the Caliph … and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity, in hardship and ease,” read an English language translation of the audio broadcast in Arabic that purported to be from the Nigerian militant group.
source: businessinsider
Tags: Africa Terrorist Group, Politics
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