United States officials who closed follow Boko Haram provide the most complete picture to date of how the group finances it activities.
Ransoms appear to be the main source of funding for Boko Haram's five-year-old Islamist insurgency in Nigeria, whose 170 Million people are split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims, said the US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
It has been revealed that much of the group's military hardwares are stolen from the Nigerian army.
In February, dozens of its fighters desended on a remote military outpost in the Gwoza hills in North-eastern Borno State, looting 200 mortar bombs, 50 rocket-propelled grenades and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Such raids have left the group well armed. In dozens of attacks in the past years Nigerian Soldiers were swept aside by militant driving trucks, motor bikes and the sometimes even stolen armoured vehicles, firing rocket-propelled grenades.
U S official acknowledged that the weapons that have served Washington so well on its financial warfare against other terrorist groups are proving less effective against Boko Haram.
Comments
Post a Comment