Title: Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist group? - BBC News
Headings: Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist group?
Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist group?
Resisting British rule
Boko Haram at a glance
What is jihadism?
Recruiting ground
Facial marks
Foreign links
Chronic poverty
Around the BBC

Content: Boko Haram at a glance
image caption
Boko Haram's founding leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed in police custody in 2009
Founded in 2002
Official Arabic name, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad"
Initially focused on opposing Western education
Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
Designated a terrorist group by US in 2013
Declared a caliphate in areas it controlled in 2014
Most territory now recaptured by army
Islamic State strengthens ties with Boko Haram
Is Islamic State shaping Boko Haram media? Jihadist groups around the world
What is jihadism? Recruiting ground
Since the Sokoto caliphate, which ruled parts of what is now northern Nigeria, Niger and southern Cameroon, fell under British control in 1903, there has been resistance among some of the area's Muslims to Western education. Many still refuse to send their children to government-run "Western schools", a problem compounded by the ruling elite which does not see education as a priority. Against this background, charismatic Muslim cleric Mohammed Yusuf formed Boko Haram in Maiduguri in 2002. He set up a religious complex, which included a mosque and an Islamic school. Many poor Muslim families from across Nigeria, as well as neighbouring countries, enrolled their children at the school. But Boko Haram was not only interested in education. Its political goal was to create an Islamic state, and the school became a recruiting ground for jihadis. 2.42.4.a5b3b2a
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media caption
Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in Hausa
In 2009, Boko Haram carried out a spate of attacks on police stations and other government buildings in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state.