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U.S Findings Link Boko Haram to Afghanistan, Algeria
- By Williams Ekanem
- Published September 5th, 2011
- Washington File
- Unrated
In depth findings carried out in the United States have linked Boko Haram group to al Qaeda’s North Africa branch, known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM and Afghanistan.
The report names a man from Adamawa State as saying that he “led a group of members to Afghanistan for training on Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and on their return they imparted their knowledge to others.” A Nigerian undercover security official in the country’s north confirmed that Boko Haram members have received training in Afghanistan. “They usually fly there from neighboring countries, like Niger or Chad,” the official said.
The findings, although reported by the Wall Street Journal was gotten from the State Security Service (SSS), in a submitted report to senior Nigerian officials in June. The report has it that “ Boko Haram members received combat and bomb making training in Mauritania and in Algeria with members of al Qaeda’s north Africa branch, known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM.”
According to the WSJ report, members of Boko Haram, the group believed responsible for the suicide bombing of a United Nations building in Nigeria, received training from al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Afghanistan and Algeria, citing a recent internal intelligence report in Nigeria.
“The June report didn’t appear to contain specific intelligence on future attacks. But critics say the bombing attempts that followed its submission to top officials—paired with mounting evidence that some Boko Haram members are pursuing higher profile al Qaeda-style attacks on international targets—highlights what they say is an intelligence service hobbled by poor coordination and corruption within its ranks,” the WSJ reported.
These people point in particular to a finding in the report that four of the five top members of Boko Haram have been in police custody at least once in recent years but have been released. The report doesn’t state reasons for the releases, adding that calls to spokesperson of President Jonathan and SSS spokeswoman on the issue did not yield any comment. The report presents a more detailed picture of foreign terror links than the government has acknowledged. It portrays Boko Haram as an Islamist group with Jihadist aspirations and more substantial international connections than previously believed.
The SSS report, according to the WSJ stated that the group members began traveling abroad for weapons training as early as 2002, with a trip that included several members heading to Mauritania. In 2007, the report says, members of Boko Haram traveled to Afghanistan to receive training in the making of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, and in suicide-bombing techniques.
Algeria-based AQIM has claimed credit for several killings and kidnappings of foreigners in west Africa, including a Friday suicide bombing of an Algerian military academy that killed 18 people. The group still has at least four French hostages kidnapped last September in Mali.
A U.S. official said it was unlikely that Boko Haram was active enough before 2009 to send people in considerable numbers to train elsewhere. But by 2009, this official said, Boko Haram made contacts and established relationships with members of AQIM. In 2010, they began training alongside elements of AQIM in northern Mali.
“Within the last year, they’ve established more contacts and training opportunities with AQIM,” said the U.S. official. “What we’re seeing now is probably the result of the additional radicalization of their viewpoints and the training.” The official said Boko Haram is estimated to number a few hundred people. “This is not a widespread, huge movement,” the U.S. official said.
Many inside Nigeria’s government criticize President Jonathan and the security agencies for not preventing the recent attacks thought to have been carried out by Boko Haram. The group is blamed for the June bombing of a northern Nigeria beer garden that killed 25 people, and a bombing at the Nigerian police headquarters in Abuja that same month. There is no indication that the Boko Haram members who received training abroad are those responsible for last week’s bombing. The WSJ added that a man claiming to be a Boko Haram member took credit for the U.N. bombing, in a phone interview Saturday in an interview that was arranged with an intermediary in northeastern Nigeria, where the group is based. The claim hasn’t been independently confirmed.
Late Monday, the Nigerian police said they made several arrests of suspects behind the bombing but didn’t release any additional details. The Nigerian government hasn’t issued any statements assigning blame for the attack.
On Tuesday, President Jonathan said he directed the security services to “implement additional security, intelligence-gathering and counterterrorism measures, including greater cooperation with other nations engaged in the global war on terrorism.”
While Nigerians commonly refer to their largest homegrown terrorist group as Boko Haram, which roughly means “Western education is sin” in the local Hausa language, the group officially calls itself Jama’atul ahlul Sunna Lidda’awa Wal Jihad, which means “Brethren of Sunni United in the Pursuit of Holy War.” It has existed in various forms, and under various leaders, since the late 1990s, according to the report.
Members demand a wider implementation of Sharia law in Nigeria, the cessation of attacks against its members and the end of Western-style education promoted by the Nigerian government.
After a series of confrontations with local police in 2009, the group attracted more recruits and sent more members abroad for training. After a prison break in 2009 freed some 800 convicts, including several suspected Boko Haram members, some members fled to Algeria and were trained by AQIM, according to the report.
The group has a long list of those it aims to attack: “local government institutions and security agencies, moderate Muslims, non-Muslims thought to be responsible for social, economic and political misfortune against the north [of Nigeria], certain clerics, churches, Christian businesses, and relaxation spots,” according to the report. It doesn’t offer details of how it would attack these targets.
The report names a man from Adamawa State as saying that he “led a group of members to Afghanistan for training on Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and on their return they imparted their knowledge to others.” A Nigerian undercover security official in the country’s north confirmed that Boko Haram members have received training in Afghanistan. “They usually fly there from neighboring countries, like Niger or Chad,” the official said.
The findings, although reported by the Wall Street Journal was gotten from the State Security Service (SSS), in a submitted report to senior Nigerian officials in June. The report has it that “ Boko Haram members received combat and bomb making training in Mauritania and in Algeria with members of al Qaeda’s north Africa branch, known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM.”
According to the WSJ report, members of Boko Haram, the group believed responsible for the suicide bombing of a United Nations building in Nigeria, received training from al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Afghanistan and Algeria, citing a recent internal intelligence report in Nigeria.
“The June report didn’t appear to contain specific intelligence on future attacks. But critics say the bombing attempts that followed its submission to top officials—paired with mounting evidence that some Boko Haram members are pursuing higher profile al Qaeda-style attacks on international targets—highlights what they say is an intelligence service hobbled by poor coordination and corruption within its ranks,” the WSJ reported.
These people point in particular to a finding in the report that four of the five top members of Boko Haram have been in police custody at least once in recent years but have been released. The report doesn’t state reasons for the releases, adding that calls to spokesperson of President Jonathan and SSS spokeswoman on the issue did not yield any comment. The report presents a more detailed picture of foreign terror links than the government has acknowledged. It portrays Boko Haram as an Islamist group with Jihadist aspirations and more substantial international connections than previously believed.
The SSS report, according to the WSJ stated that the group members began traveling abroad for weapons training as early as 2002, with a trip that included several members heading to Mauritania. In 2007, the report says, members of Boko Haram traveled to Afghanistan to receive training in the making of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, and in suicide-bombing techniques.
Algeria-based AQIM has claimed credit for several killings and kidnappings of foreigners in west Africa, including a Friday suicide bombing of an Algerian military academy that killed 18 people. The group still has at least four French hostages kidnapped last September in Mali.
A U.S. official said it was unlikely that Boko Haram was active enough before 2009 to send people in considerable numbers to train elsewhere. But by 2009, this official said, Boko Haram made contacts and established relationships with members of AQIM. In 2010, they began training alongside elements of AQIM in northern Mali.
“Within the last year, they’ve established more contacts and training opportunities with AQIM,” said the U.S. official. “What we’re seeing now is probably the result of the additional radicalization of their viewpoints and the training.” The official said Boko Haram is estimated to number a few hundred people. “This is not a widespread, huge movement,” the U.S. official said.
Many inside Nigeria’s government criticize President Jonathan and the security agencies for not preventing the recent attacks thought to have been carried out by Boko Haram. The group is blamed for the June bombing of a northern Nigeria beer garden that killed 25 people, and a bombing at the Nigerian police headquarters in Abuja that same month. There is no indication that the Boko Haram members who received training abroad are those responsible for last week’s bombing. The WSJ added that a man claiming to be a Boko Haram member took credit for the U.N. bombing, in a phone interview Saturday in an interview that was arranged with an intermediary in northeastern Nigeria, where the group is based. The claim hasn’t been independently confirmed.
Late Monday, the Nigerian police said they made several arrests of suspects behind the bombing but didn’t release any additional details. The Nigerian government hasn’t issued any statements assigning blame for the attack.
On Tuesday, President Jonathan said he directed the security services to “implement additional security, intelligence-gathering and counterterrorism measures, including greater cooperation with other nations engaged in the global war on terrorism.”
While Nigerians commonly refer to their largest homegrown terrorist group as Boko Haram, which roughly means “Western education is sin” in the local Hausa language, the group officially calls itself Jama’atul ahlul Sunna Lidda’awa Wal Jihad, which means “Brethren of Sunni United in the Pursuit of Holy War.” It has existed in various forms, and under various leaders, since the late 1990s, according to the report.
Members demand a wider implementation of Sharia law in Nigeria, the cessation of attacks against its members and the end of Western-style education promoted by the Nigerian government.
After a series of confrontations with local police in 2009, the group attracted more recruits and sent more members abroad for training. After a prison break in 2009 freed some 800 convicts, including several suspected Boko Haram members, some members fled to Algeria and were trained by AQIM, according to the report.
The group has a long list of those it aims to attack: “local government institutions and security agencies, moderate Muslims, non-Muslims thought to be responsible for social, economic and political misfortune against the north [of Nigeria], certain clerics, churches, Christian businesses, and relaxation spots,” according to the report. It doesn’t offer details of how it would attack these targets.
