Boko Haram pledges allegiance to Islamic State

The leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram
militants, Abubakar Shekau, pledged
allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group
in an audio recording released Saturday.

“We announce our allegiance to the
Caliph of the Muslims, Ibrahim ibn Awad
ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi,” said
the voice on the message, which was
believed to be that of Shekau and was
released through Boko Haram’s Twitter
account.

Qurashi is better known as Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi, leader of the IS group which
has proclaimed a caliphate in parts of
Syria and Iraq.
Shekau spoke in Arabic, but the message
contained French and English subtitles.

It was not immediately possible to verify
the authenticity of the message.
Shekau was not pictured, a contrast from
most of Boko Haram’s past messages in
which the Islamist leader has been
shown, often in close up shots.
But Shekau did identify himself in the
recording, which was accompanied by the
subtitles and a graphic including an
image of a radio microphone.

There have in recent months been signs
of closer ties between the Nigerian
militants and the IS group, with both
using similar ways of communicating with
the outside world. Boko Haram has
notably begun releasing videos that
resemble those made by IS.

Boko Haram has been waging a six-year
uprising against the Nigerian state, which
has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
Analysts have long debated the extent of
Boko Haram’s ties to other jihadist
groups, but the evidence was never clear.