On Saturday, the leader of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram pledged allegiance to Islamic State, or "the Caliph of the Muslims," and on Thursday, ISIS formally accepted the gesture. Terrorism analysts had already suspected collaboration between the two groups, largely because Boko Haram's social media presence and propaganda videos had taken on an ISIS-like level of gloss and professionalism, but in an audio message, ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani said his group had agreed to the union and expanded into West Africa.
ISIS also encouraged militant Muslims from around the world to join Boko Haram — a potential mistake, Africa expert J. Peter Pham at the Atlantic Council tells The Associated Press. "Militants finding it increasingly harder to get to Syria and Iraq may choose instead to go to northeastern Nigeria and internationalize that conflict," he said. And while ISIS typically waits at least a week to publicly respond to other Islamist groups, he added, its "prompt — one might even say 'fast-tracked' — acceptance" of Boko Haram's pledge might indicate that both sides need a PR boost amid their current military setbacks.
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