US Contemplates Drone Strikes in Nigeria as Al-Qaeda now trains Boko Haram

Huhuonline

24 August 2011

US Contemplates Drone Strikes in Nigeria as Al-Qaeda now trains Boko Haram

As the shadowy Boko Haram insurgency continues to wreck havoc in northern Nigeria, the United States is contemplating launching drone airstrikes inside Nigeria amid reports that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have been training Boko Haram  militants, a senior US Counter-terrorism official who was briefed on the plan confided to Huhuonline.com in New York, USA.

 “Two years ago, after its leader was killed, Boko Haram was on the verge of extinction, but today they strike at the landmarks of Nigerian military power using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that bear the hallmarks of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,” the official told Huhuonline.com, adding: “in the past two years, Boko Haram has met and trained with Al Qaeda affiliates outside Nigeria, including the al-Shabab terror group of Somalia and the group has begun waging a propaganda campaign that includes conference calls with journalists - another sign of its growing sophistication.”

According to the source, this link-up between Nigeria’s fundamentalist Islamic sect, Boko Haram and al Qaeda is sending jitters down the spine of Western governments, giving the Nigerian government’s demonstrated incapacity to handle the rising insurgency.