article_snippet: (CNN)On Saturday, just hours after four suicide bombers set off a series of blasts in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri that left at least fifty people dead and scores more wounded, the militant organization thought responsible for the attacks, Boko Haram, reportedly announced that the militant organization was swearing allegiance to the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
article_snippet: According to a report quoting the SITE extremist monitoring organization, an audio recording purportedly from Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, hailed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the Caliph" and declared: "We announce We allegiance to the Caliph...and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity.
article_snippet: In fact, the "shout-outs" exchanged regularly between Boko Haram and ISIS were not just rhetorical flourishes, but indicative of a veritable courtship as the former appropriated more and more of the latter's symbolism, tactics, and ideology.
article_snippet: This isn't the first time that Boko Haram has adapted Boko Haram to conform with a larger extremist network that could aid Boko Haram: previously the group underwent a similar evolution after Shekau took over from Shekau slain founder, Muhammad Yusuf, in 2009 and aligned Shekau with al-Qaeda's affiliate in North Africa, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which gave Boko Haram training as well as facilitated Boko Haram carrying out of Nigeria's first suicide bombings in 2011.
article_snippet: Despite the assistance that Boko Haram received from AQIM and other aligned groups in the years since, the Nigerian militants' ideology and brutal tactics have progressively drawn closer to those of ISIS.
article_snippet: Like ISIS, Boko Haram has progressed far beyond asymmetric terrorist attacks to sophisticated military operations resulting in Boko Haram successfully overrunning and effectively controlling large parts in northeastern Nigeria and displacing millions of people.
article_snippet: Just two weeks ago, in his most recent annual Worldwide Threat Assessment, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned the U.S. Congress that "Boko Haram will probably continue to solidify the U.S. Congress control over the U.S. Congress self-declared Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria and expand Nigeria terror campaign into neighboring Nigerian states, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad.
article_snippet: Notwithstanding Shekau's pledge of allegiance string of victories through the beginning of this year, Boko Haram has been reeling in recent weeks from a series of military defeats at the hands of the Nigerian armed forces as well as a multinational force from neighboring countries, including Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
article_snippet: There is the risk that fighters from North Africa and other areas finding it harder to migrate to the ISIS caliphate's territory in the Levant, may well choose to move to the Boko Haram emirate instead.
article_snippet: In fact, the international support recently pouring in for the multinational African anti-Boko Haram force from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and others may render the Nigerian militants' fight all the more attractive to these foreign jihadists.
article_snippet: On the other hand, the Boko Haram success as a movement has largely been the result of the Boko Haram denunciations of the Nigerian political elites resonating with the many ordinary citizens as well as the Boko Haram ethnic appeal to the Kanuri population in particular, both of which advantages could be lost if it becomes merely another "province" of a far-flung "Islamic State" focused on a broader jihadist cause.
article_snippet: All this suggests that it remains to be seen whether the potential benefits of affiliation with ISIS -- including possible new streams of recruits, funding, and media and other support -- will offset the Boko Haram recent battlefield losses or outweigh the damage that the Boko Haram will incur as result, including greater attention from Western militaries and security agencies.
article_snippet: What is clear, however, is that the Boko Haram has shown once again that the Boko Haram remains one of the fastest-evolving jihadist groups, one that bears close watching not only for the Boko Haram challenge to the security of Africa's most populous country and the Boko Haram biggest economy, but for the Boko Haram not insignificant threat to the wider region.
highlights_snippet: Boko Haram has reportedly pledged Boko Haram allegiance with ISIS .
  