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Canonical ID: NK-nAfXTR4JGxXnWVte3izKiq · Entity type: Organization (reference)
| Property | Value | Lang | Source dataset | Source ID | First seen | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Organization:notes | Boko Haram is a Salafist jihadist group operating in northern Nigeria whose ultimate objective is to overthrow the Nigerian government and implement Sharia Law. The group desires a political system in Nigeria modeled after how the Taliban now rules Afghanistan. Its tactics include small arms attacks, the use of improvised explosive devices, suicide bombings, and kidnappings. Boko Haram conducted a suicide bomb attack against the United Nations compound in Abuja, Nigeria in August 2011, killing 23 people. In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped a Canadian nun and two Italian priests in Cameroon. A few days later, in Nigeria, the group kidnapped 276 schoolgirls. In 2015, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and Boko Haram renamed itself the "Islamic States West Africa Province". However, the Islamic State appointed Abu Musab al-Barnawi as leader of Islamic States West Africa Province, resulting in the formation of two rival factions; one loyal to Shekau operating under the Boko Haram banner, and the other (Islamic States West Africa Province) led by Barnawi. During the first nine months of 2016, Boko Haram was responsible for nearly 400 deaths in Nigeria, and approximately 850 deaths in 2017. In many of its attacks Boko Haram used children, particularly young girls, as suicide bombers. Boko Haram also repeatedly targets farmers, loggers, and herders, accusing them of passing information about the group to soldiers and the militia fighting them. In November 2020, armed assailants on motorcycles took 50 farmers from a village in northeastern Nigeria, into a building where they slit their throats. Later, additional bodies were found nearby, bringing the total number of deceased to 76. In addition, the militants abducted about a dozen women from the village. The Shekau faction of Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the incident. In the most recent attack on August 12, 2023, Boko Haram militants rounded up 10 farmers and shot them dead while they were working in their field in the village of Maiwa, Borno. | ca_listed_terrorists | ca-lte-18-boko-haram | ||||