Posted on: 07:36 Thu, 19 Nov 2015



As much of the world remains
focused on the Islamic State and its
horrific attacks in Paris, another
radical band of extremists has, by
one account, captured the infamous
title of the world’s deadliest terrorist
group: Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, the militant group that
has tortured Nigeria and its
neighbors for years, was responsible
for 6,664 deaths last year, more than
any other terrorist group in the
world, including the Islamic State,
which killed 6,073 people in 2014,
according to a report released
Wednesday tracking terrorist attacks
globally.

The death toll in Nigeria mounted on
Wednesday, with a bombing in Kano
State in northern Nigeria, not even a
full day after Boko Haram was
suspected in an explosion that killed
and injured dozens in another
nearby region.

In Kano, the authorities said that two
female suicide bombers detonated
vests at a cellphone market at about
4 p.m., killing at least 12 people and
wounding dozens.

Witnesses and Red Cross officials
said that as many as 50 or 60 people
died, though the number could not
be independently confirmed.
Officials accused Boko Haram in the
attacks.

In a statement Wednesday, President
Muhammadu Buhari called for
Nigerians to stay vigilant, saying that
even his recently intensified military
operation against Boko Haram could
not prevent every attack.

“President Buhari reassures
Nigerians that his administration is
very much determined to wipe out
Boko Haram in Nigeria and bring all
perpetrators of these heinous crimes
against humanity to justice,” the
release said.

Pres. Buhari, who took office in May,
ran on a platform of eliminating
Boko Haram, which he has pledged
to do by the end of December, as
well as cutting back on corruption
that has dogged the nation.

This week, Pres. Buhari accused the
previous administration’s national
security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, of
pocketing more than $2 billion that
had been allocated for warplanes,
helicopters and other military gear
to fight Boko Haram. Mr. Dasuki has
denied the allegations.

Pres. Buhari has announced recent
victories against Boko Haram,
including seizing bomb-making
materials and winning battles in the
forest.

But still the bombings have come at a
rapid clip in recent weeks, bringing
death to a food market in Kano,
areas of Niger and Cameroon and a
village in Chad, prompting officials
to call a state of emergency there.

Boko Haram has pledged its
allegiance to the Islamic State, but it
is unclear what support the group is
giving Boko Haram beyond assisting
with publicity.

The report released Wednesday,
from the Institute of Economics &
Peace, said the Islamic State and
Boko Haram were responsible for
half of all global deaths attributed to
terrorism.

Last year, the deaths attributed to
Boko Haram alone increased by
more than 300 percent, the report
said.

The report found a drastic increase
in terrorist attacks last year, with the
majority occurring in three
countries: Iraq, Syria and Nigeria,
where other militant groups besides
Boko Haram operate.

“In Nigeria, private citizens are
overwhelmingly targeted, most often
with firearms resulting in very high
levels of deaths per attack,”
according to the report.

Security experts, regional authorities
and Western military officials have
credited Pres. Buhari’s renewed push
against Boko Haram for scattering
the group, which gained notoriety in
the United States when it kidnapped
scores of schoolgirls and seized
entire towns in northern Nigeria.

They say the string of recent attacks
on various public places is evidence
that the group is grasping to gain
real ground and is no longer as
capable of holding territory. Still,
attacks in crowded spots like schools
and markets, long a staple of Boko
Haram’s mayhem, can be extremely
deadly.

This is the third year the economics
and peace institute has released its
Global Terrorism Index, a study of
terrorist activity around the world.

The index is based on data collected
as part of a program run by the
University of Maryland dedicated to
the study of terrorism around the
world.

In Cameroon, the report said Boko
Haram had expanded its reach into
the country with bombings.

Source: NY Times