(Newswire.net — March 8, 2015) — The Middle East terrorist threat just spread to another continent as radical African militant Muslim group Boko Haram pledges allegiance to ISIS (also known as ISIL, or IS).
According to reports, the audio message published on Boko Haram’s Twitter account wasn’t verified, however, it is believed that the voice on the recording belongs to one of the Boko Haram leaders Abu Bakr Shekau.
Shekau formally pledged alliance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic State, Reuters reported.
Reportedly, Boko Haram leader said the group would “hear and obey” the Caliph “in times of difficulty and prosperity”. The Caliph is in fact the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who last June declared captured area in Iraq and Syria a new Islamic State – a caliphate.
This January, Afghani and Pakistani militants also joined the Islamic State, claiming they constituted its province, Russia Today reported.
In spite of the every day airstrikes, ISIS is far from defeat, experts say. While US-lead coalition considers sending a ground troops to fight Muslim extremists in Middle East, on other continent a small terrorist group Boko Haram has grown to a mini-country the size about 20,000 square miles according to an estimate released by The Telegraph.
Reportedly, the one of the latest towns captured by Boko Haram was Baga in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, close to Lake Chad. While Nigerian authorities state the militant group killed 150 people there, the witness estimates, Boko Haram killed at least 2,000 people in fighting for the region.
It is hard to estimate the real casualties number as there is impossible to confirm, however the group attracted worlds attention with last year unprecedented globally condemned incident of abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok.
It is believed Boko Haram atrocities have resulted in at least 13,000 dead since 2009. Due to the Boko Haram raids, around 1.5 million people have become internal refugees in Africa.