The Boko Haram terrorist group yesterday continued its gory killings in Yobe and Borno States, even as it emerged that the sect has formally aligned with the ruthless Islamic State (ISIS) militants in the Middle East, when both groups jointly released a video.
The joint release of the video sets a terrifying new precedent. It is the first gruesome video of a beheading since it (Boko Haram) pledged allegiance to ISIS last year.
In the video, a suspected Nigerian soldier was seen in a kneeling position, surrounded by three terrorists wielding AK 47 assault rifles and later, another picture, without the head.
This video is coming as President Muhammadu Buhari and the federal government continue to work day and night to tackle and end the insurgency before it runs out of hand and have vowed to crush the insurgents to the last man.
The video adopts many of the same style-points as the hundreds of barbaric videos released by ISIS over the last year.
The ‘West Africa’ insignia at the top-left corner of the video, suggests the terror group may have set up a new so-called media wing in the country.
It was learnt that a Somali terror group has also disclosed intentions to join ISIS, which would extend its so-called caliphate to East Africa.
According to Daily Mail online, the 10 minute-long propaganda video begins with what appears to be an intense fire fight against Nigerian soldiers. Boko Haram fighters exchange machine gun fire with the troops and launch heavy mortar grenades on their locations. It shows them standing proudly next to the corpses of scorched Nigerian troops – and showing off their security badges to the camera.
The video ends with the senseless murder of a captured African Union soldier. With a look of true horror on his face, the man kneels in front of three masked Boko Haram fanatics – two of whom point AK47s at his head. The video then cuts to reveal his decapitated body lying motionless on the floor.
Islamic State accepted a pledge of allegiance from Boko Haram, who were responsible for the deaths of over 10,000 in Nigeria in 2014, in March this year.
The audio message entitled ‘kill and be killed’, released through the militants’ vast social media channels, was read by an ISIS spokesperson who also threatened further violence against the Christian and Jewish communities.
The sequence of events clearly indicated that Boko Haram that has been causing devastation in the North Eastern part of the country, has forged a strong operational alliance with ISIS.
Speaking for his leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the man in the recording said, “we announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to West Africa.
“Our caliph has accepted the pledge of loyalty of our brothers of Boko Haram so we congratulate Muslims and our jihadi brothers in West Africa.”
The militants have been waging a six-year insurgency to impose strict Sharia law in Nigeria and earlier this year, launched attacks across the border on Cameroon, before striking Niger and Chad.
The group has killed thousands in bomb attacks and violent sieges on villages in the remote north-east, and are now feared to be spilling over into neighbouring Cameroon and Chad.
It inspired five African nations to form a coalition to take the group on and 8,700 troops from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin are expected to begin operations before the end of next month.
Also yesterday, the Somali terror group, Al-Shabaab, indicated it could soon scrap its allegiance to Al-Qaeda and pledge loyalty to rivals ISIS, instead.
Islamic State invited the East African jihadi group to join forces with them through a propaganda video released in March, urging it to wage jihad on neighbouring Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania
Now, Al-Shabaab members and sources within the Somali army suggest the invitation will be accepted and the group, which commands around 9,000 fighters, will soon extend ISIS’ self-proclaimed caliphate to East Africa.
The decision comes at a time when many of Al-Shabaab’s local and foreign leaders are being killed by commando raids and drone strikes, the group is rapidly losing territory and its money is running out as a result.
Security expert, Ryan Cummings says that ISIS’ desire to merge with Al-Shabaab is part of its international expansion plan.
“Al-Shabaab is the largest jihadi movement in East Africa and central to the core mandate of ISIS is the unification of the Muslim world,” a counter-terrorism expert told CNN at the time.
Ryan Cummings added that a merger “would be a significant ideological victory for the group (ISIS). It would be massive from a public relations perspective, which is central to the Islamic State’s operations.
“The Islamic State still wants to create the perception that it’s growing and branching out to various parts of the world. The only way that it will be able to achieve this will be to have groups serving as an extension in their various areas of operation.”
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