BEIRUT--Islamic State militants have accepted a pledge of
allegiance by the Nigerian-grown Boko Haram extremist group, a
spokesman for the Islamic State movement said Thursday.
The development comes as both movements, which are among the
most ruthless in the world, are under increasing military pressure
and have sustained setbacks on the battlefield.
Islamic State seized much of northern and western Iraq last
summer, gaining control of about a third of both Iraq and Syria.
But it is now struggling against Iraqi forces seeking to recapture
Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, while coming under fire from
U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in other parts of the country and in
Syria.
Boko Haram, meanwhile, has been weakened by a multinational
force that has dislodged it from a score of northeastern Nigerian
towns. But its new Twitter account, increasingly slick and more
frequent video messages, and a new media arm all were considered
signs that the group is now being helped by IS propagandists.
Then on Saturday, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau posted an
audio recording online that pledged allegiance to IS. On Thursday,
the Islamic State group's media arm Al-Furqan, in an audio
recording by spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, said that Boko
Haram's pledge of allegiance has been accepted, claiming the
caliphate has now expanded to West Africa.
Mr. Al-Adnani had urged foreign fighters from around the world
to migrate and join Boko Haram.
"We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims...and
will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity, in
hardship and ease, and to endure being discriminated against, and
not to dispute about rule with those in power, except in case of
evident infidelity regarding that which there is a proof from
Allah," said the message.
J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic
Council, a think tank in Washington, noted the Islamic State
group's quick acceptance of Boko Haram's allegiance and said that
the bond highlights a new risk.
"Militants finding it increasingly harder to get to Syria and
Iraq may choose instead to go to northeastern Nigeria and
internationalize that conflict," he said.
In the past--as was the case with IS affiliates in Egypt, Yemen
and Libya--it took weeks for the Islamic State to respond to a
pledge of allegiance.
"The prompt--one might even say "fast-tracked'--acceptance by
the so-called Islamic State of Boko Haram's pledge of allegiance"
underscores that both needed the propaganda boost from the
affiliation, Mr. Pham added.
The Boko Haram's pledge comes as the militants reportedly were
massing in the northeastern Nigerian town of Gwoza, considered
their headquarters, for a showdown with the Chadian-led
multinational force.
Boko Haram killed an estimated 10,000 people last year, and it
is blamed for last April's abduction of more than 275 schoolgirls.
Thousands of Nigerians have fled to neighboring Chad.