article_snippet: The Chadians have been particularly effective.
article_snippet: the group's increasing alignment with ISIS is demonstrated by Boko Haram recent beheadings of Boko Haram victims and Boko Haram more professionally edited video releases of recent weeks that have mimicked ISIS slick videos.
article_snippet: Virginia Comolli, whose book "Boko Haram: Nigeria's Islamist Insurgency," will be published next month, agrees that the more sophisticated Boko Haram media releases of the past couple of months point to "some sort of inspiration" that Boko Haram is drawing from ISIS and that recent beheadings "might also be a form of copycat
article_snippet: but, I shall note, they are not completely new" for Boko Haram.
article_snippet: Comolli also emphasized to me, "lately the government had been able to take back a number of towns under Boko Haram control.
article_snippet: Boko Haram has always been very resilient and adaptable, changing and upping Boko Haram game when needed.
article_snippet: Some 5,000 have died in Boko-related violence during the past half-decade, while more than 1.5 million have been forced out of their homes, but Boko Haram has generally not attacked Western targets.
article_snippet: Boko Haram affiliation with ISIS could change that although, for the moment, it's not clear how the Boko-ISIS alliance would work from an operational standpoint.
article_snippet: Five of the victims were foreigners and one was an American.