Troops Re-Group Against Boko Haram

Col. Tukur Ismail Gusau, spokesman of the Nigerian army in Borno State, said the items were discovered on the outskirts of Bama town, one of the locations of the Boko Haram terror group.

“But there is little indication so far of ISIS providing Boko Haram with financial or material support; nor is there evidence of ISIS advisors working on the ground in Nigeria”.

“The Nigerian Army wishes to reiterate that as we move for the final onslaught against Boko Haram terrorists, there is the urgent need for all of us to be more vigilant and security conscious”, the statement said.

The Index noted that it wasn’t the only terror group active in Nigeria in 2014, however, with Fulani militants killing another 1,229 people.

“Terrorist activity in Nigeria has more in common with the tactics of organized crime and gangs, focusing more on armed assaults using firearms and knives than on the bombings of other large terrorist groups”, the report says.

“On Tuesday, Boko Haram was suspected of responsibility in an explosion that killed more than 30 people in the northeastern city of Yola”, reports Newsweek.

Boko Haram, also like ISIS, wants to expand its territory. While not much is known about them, they have operated for six years, killing an estimated 20,000 people and forcing another 2.3 million out of their own homes. The organization is also active in the neighboring countries of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. But the decrease in religious victims was offset by a 172 percent increase in the deaths of private citizens, the GTI indicates.

A few girls managed to escape but 219 are still missing, despite Ezekwesili’s #bringbackourgirls social media campaign which brought the issue to global attention. Nigeria’s armed forces on Wednesday said it had rescued 338 people held captive by Boko Haram and raided a number of the Islamist militant group’s camps on the edge of its stronghold in the northeast’s Sambisa forest. Many have joined other sub-Saharan Africans, as well as refugees from Arab nations, in fleeing to Europe in search of sanctuary.

President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May this year, and has launched intense military operations to push back Boko Haram, which have been successful and have led to significant victories against the group. He also dismissed the report that the troops lost equipment to the terrorists.

Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria were listed as the countries suffering the most attacks of terrorism in 2014, accounting for 78 percent of terrorism deaths, with the bulk occurring in Syria, Iraq and Nigeria.

The global economic cost of terrorism was $283bn over the past 15 years, reaching a record high of $53bn in 2014.