NBC News quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham on the increasing number of attacks carried out by Boko Haram against Nigeria and neighboring countries throughout 2015:
With details and information from Boko Haram’s heartland in northeast Nigeria hard to come by, most experts believe the true tally of the violence has been even higher and could still climb before the year’s end.
“Sadly they have a history of attacks around Christmas and New Year,” said Dr. J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.
[…]
The Atlantic Council’s Pham said any territorial gains made by the military might be illusory and that Boko Haram’s military tactics also appear to have grown more sophisticated.
For example, he said, it appears Boko Haram has learned to leave open an escape route when besieging a town and set booby traps for the fleeing government troops.