Title: FSI | CISAC | MAPPINGMILITANTS CISAC - MMP: Boko Haram
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Boko Haram
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Major Attacks
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Content: In March 2015, Boko Haram became an affiliate of the Islamic State (IS). In August 2016, leadership struggles led to a split within Boko Haram, pitting the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) against Jama’atu Ahl al-Sunnah lil-Dawa wal-Jihad (JAS). Group Narrative
Boko Haram formed in 2002 when Mohammed Yusuf, a well-known preacher and proselytizer of the Izala sect of Islam in the Maiduguri region of Nigeria, began to radicalize his discourse to reject all secular aspects of Nigerian society. In 2002, Yusuf opened a religious complex with an Islamic school in Maiduguri, Nigeria, which attracted students from poor Muslim families across the country. Yusuf reportedly used the school to convert and recruit future jihadis. [ 3] Boko Haram expanded into Yobe state, where it set up another base, nicknamed “Afghanistan,” near the Nigeria-Niger border in 2003. [ 4]
From 2002-2003, a group of Yusuf’s students formed a community near Kanama, Nigeria in order to adhere to Yusuf’s teachings and live outside secular society. Members of this group, dubbed Al Sunna Wal Jamma (Followers of the Prophet’s Teachings) were the first followers of Yusuf to instigate violence against the Nigerian government. This sect was quashed by the Nigerian government in 2003. [ 5] In response Boko Haram conducted its first attack, occupying a police station and raising the Afghan Taliban flag. [