The Daily Beast quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham on similarities between ISIS and Boko Haram:

“There is a convergence of rhetoric, ideology, tactical, and operational choices [between Boko Haram and the Islamic State]. But in order for one to have even a marriage of convenience, there has to be a common strategic vision, or end goal,” J. Peter Pham, Africa Center director for The Atlantic Council, explained to The Daily Beast.

Boko Haram “has a spiritual unity with other jihadists but they haven’t asserted this willingness to be subsumed into one entity,” Pham told The Daily Beast.

[…]

What started as a violent group has evolved into a terrorist organization that has expanded its territory. Boko Haram is among the fastest evolving terrorist groups the world has seen. Because of that, what appears to be a media-coordinated online effort could quickly evolve into something else, Pham warned.

“Boko Haram is a rapidly growing group and a rapidly shifting group,” he said.


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