 November 14, 2013 : The United States on November 14, 2013 designated Nigeria's radical Islamist Boko Haram Network and an offshoot known as Ansaru as terror groups, bowing to months of pressure to act.
The groups have spread terror in northeastern and central Nigeria and are blamed for thousands of deaths as they battle to set up an Islamic state. A new UN report released showed more than 37,000 people have fled the region since the Nigerian army launched a crackdown on the militants in May.
An earlier version of the group, known then in local reports as the "Nigerian Taliban", was formed in 2004 and is now believed to have a number of different factions, with differing aims.
Boko Haram is blamed for indiscriminate attacks in Benisheikh, Nigeria in September 2012 in which some 160 people were killed, and was also said to be behind the suicide bombing of a UN building in Abuja in August 2011.
Ansaru has focused attacks on Nigerian military and Western targets, kidnapping several foreigners. They are believed to have been behind the kidnapping of a French family seized on the border of Cameroon and Nigeria in February and released in April.
Boko Haram:
- The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad better known by its Hausa name Boko Haram, ("Western education is sinful") is an Islamic jihadist militant organisation based in the northeast of Nigeria, north Cameroon and Niger.
- Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2001, the organisation seeks to establish a "pure" Islamic state ruled by sharia law, putting a stop to what it deems "Westernization".
- Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths between 2001 and 2013 and roughly 3,600 killed; including 1,600 civilians between 2009 and 2013.The group exerts influence in the northeastern Nigerian states of Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Yobe and Kano.
- In this region, a state of emergency has been declared. The group does not have a clear structure or evident chain of command and has been called "diffuse" with a "cell-like structure" facilitating factions and splits.
Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Lands:
- Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Lands better known as Ansaru is an Islamist jihadist militant organisation based in the northeast of Nigeria. It is an offshoot of the larger Boko Haram organisation, founded in January 2012, and reportedly has more of an international focus than the latter.
- The organisation's motto is “Jihad Fi Sabilillah”, meaning "struggle for the cause of Allah".
- The group reportedly coordinates its operations with the northern Mali-based al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.
- Ansaru is designated as a proscribed terrorist organization by the UK Home Office.
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