The Independent quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham from his congressional testimony on potential connections between Boko Haram and ISIS:
J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Centre at the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank who testified at a US Congressional hearing on Boko Haram, said that there were “tantalizing clues that should not be lightly dismissed” of a merging of ISIS and Boko Haram, according to Al Arabiya.
He cited the salutations of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau’s towards ISIS’ self-declared ‘caliphate’ and the black Islamist flag, similar to that used by ISIS, as an example of this.
Boko Haram is also pursuing territories in a “caliphate-orientated strategy” like that of ISIS, he added.