MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Nigerian militant group Boko Haram renamed itself, adopting the name “Islamic State’s West Africa Province” (ISWAP), The Independent newspaper reported Sunday.
The reports on the change of the group’s name appeared in the Nigerian media on Friday. Boko Haram was used as group’s name since it was founded in 2002.
Boko Haram pledged allegiance to Islamic State militants, which the ISIL accepted on March 13, calling it an “expansion of caliphate to West Africa.”
Abubakar Shekau the leader of Boko Haram in Nigeria pledges allegiance to ISIS
A picture taken on February 13, 2015 shows the village Nougboua after it was attacked by Nigeria's Boko Haram rebels
This picture taken on November 12, 2014 in front of the military base of Amchide, northern Cameroon, 1 km from Nigeria, shows a Boko Haram's tank destroyed by Cameroonian soldiers during an attack againts the military base by the Islamic fighters on October 15, 2014. The city was raided by Nigeria's Boko Haram, killing eight cameroonian soldiers and leading the population to flee on October 15, 2014, before another six coordinated attacks that killed at least three civilians in the remote north of the country, on November 9, 2014. Boko Haram's five-year insurgency in neighboring Nigeria has left thousands dead, and the Islamists have occasionally carried out attacks over the border. Cameroon has deployed more than 1,000 soldiers in the extreme northeast of the country to counter the Islamist threat.
Abubakar Shekau the leader of Boko Haram in Nigeria pledges allegiance to ISIS
A picture taken on February 13, 2015 shows the village Nougboua after it was attacked by Nigeria's Boko Haram rebels
This picture taken on November 12, 2014 in front of the military base of Amchide, northern Cameroon, 1 km from Nigeria, shows a Boko Haram's tank destroyed by Cameroonian soldiers during an attack againts the military base by the Islamic fighters on October 15, 2014. The city was raided by Nigeria's Boko Haram, killing eight cameroonian soldiers and leading the population to flee on October 15, 2014, before another six coordinated attacks that killed at least three civilians in the remote north of the country, on November 9, 2014. Boko Haram's five-year insurgency in neighboring Nigeria has left thousands dead, and the Islamists have occasionally carried out attacks over the border. Cameroon has deployed more than 1,000 soldiers in the extreme northeast of the country to counter the Islamist threat.
The Boko Haram initiated military operations in Nigeria in 2009, to impose Islamic rule in the country. The militant group, notorious for mass killings and kidnappings, currently operates on the border of four Western African countries: Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
