ISIS has a new, dangerous recruit: Boko Haram
The caliphate expands
According to AFP, Boko Haram’s leader pledged loyalty to ISIS in an audio message posted to Twitter this afternoon.
From Yahoo News:
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) – The leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram militants, Abubakar Shekau, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group in an audio recording released Saturday.
“We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims, Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi,” said the voice on the message, which was believed to be that of Shekau and was released through Boko Haram’s Twitter account.
Qurashi is better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the IS group which has proclaimed a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.
Shekau spoke in Arabic, but the message contained French and English subtitles.
It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the message.
Shekau was not pictured, a contrast from most of Boko Haram’s past messages in which the Islamist leader has been shown, often in close up shots.
But Shekau did identify himself in the recording, which was accompanied by the subtitles and a graphic including an image of a radio microphone.
There have in recent months been signs of closer ties between the Nigerian militants and the IS group, with both using similar ways of communicating with the outside world. Boko Haram has notably begun releasing videos that resemble those made by IS.
Boko Haram has been waging a six-year uprising against the Nigerian state, which has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
Analysts have long debated the extent of Boko Haram’s ties to other jihadist groups, but the evidence was never clear.
This is a brief, but concise overview of Boko Haram:
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Comments
This will all be peachy keen until Arab ISIS tells black ISIS to clean the toilets, do the dishes and carry out the garbage.
“Analysts have long debated the extent of Boko Haram’s ties to other jihadist groups, but the evidence was never clear.”
The evidence was clear, but also buried:
http://allenbwest.com/2015/03/revealed-obama-carefully-orchestrated-lie-about-al-qaida-demise-to-win-re-eelction/
I have to defer to the twisted wisdom of my other favorite blog when I comes to Boki Haram’s reasons for doing anything that puts them in the news.
http://www.duffelblog.com/2015/01/boko-haram/
For the terminally serious, yes, it is satire. No, it is not safe for work.
Gorsh. It’s like pirates all over the world know a strong horse when they see one.
And a weak sister, too…
But, but… Does this mean hashtags haven’t been effective?
He’s no longer using that name, just like he’s not using the Arabic name that is translated and abbreviated as ISIS or ISIL.
Now, Boko Haram removed all doubt.
The big question is, where is the real headquarters? It might be in Doha.