TERRORISM:Boko Haram Might Have Collaborated With Al-Shaba'ab In Launching Westgate Shopping Mall Attack.

A report by a committee of the United
States House of Representatives has linked
the fundamentalist Islamist sect, Boko
Haram, to al Shabaab, the terror group that
carried out the September 21 Westgate Mall
attack in Nairobi, Kenya.

Al-Shabaab is a Somali-based group whose
members are said to be highly proficient in
suicide bombing.

The report dated September 13, 2013 and
entitled, ‘Boko Haram: Growing Threat to
the US Homeland’, also acknowledged the
growing relationship between the Nigerian
sect and another terror group, the Al
Qaeda in the land of the Islamic Maghreb.

The 39-page report noted that “while there
is no evidence that al Qaeda’s core in
Afghanistan and Pakistan commands Boko
Haram’s operations, it is clear from the
words of multiple US officials and media
reports that Boko Haram is supportive of,
and supported by Al Qaeda networks such
as AQIM.”

It noted that “it is the unity of ideology and
mutual hatred for the West between the Al
Qaeda networks that exposes the danger
Boko Haram poses to the U.S Homeland.”

The committee described Boko Haram as a
“hardened and sophisticated terror
network” that required multiple
simultenous local and international efforts
to enhance the capacity and capability of
the the Nigerian Police and the military to
curtail its activities.

It said there was an urgent need by the US
to designate the sect as a Foreign Terrorist
Organisation because it has shown no signs
of ending its aggression against the
government of Nigeria and the Western
world.

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The commiteee wrote, “The world is coming
to know more about Boko Haram; their
intentions, what they’re capable of, and
who is supporting them.

“The US Intelligence Community is working
to erase the gaps in our understanding of
Boko Haram, but it is already evident they
are a serious threat to US interests and
potentially to the US Homeland.

‘‘Acknowledging this threat publicly by
designating Boko Haram an FTO will
establish a legal mechanism for prosecuting
any supporters within US jurisdictions.

“This is an increasingly important tool given
their attempts to market themselves to a
wider international audience.

“Boko Haram shows no signs of ending its
campaign against the government of
Nigeria and the Western world.

Two years
after their August 2011 bombing of a United
Nations facility in Abuja, Nigeria, Boko
Haram remains a threat to the international
community, and continues to be a
developing threat to the US Homeland.”

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The report said that Boko Haram had
“highly skilled bomb makers who might
have received training from experienced
militants elsewhere, potentially indicating a
stronger relationship between them and
AQIM or Al Shabaab.

It said that besides building sophisticated
weaponry, it was now possible that Boko
Haram had acquired or will acquire SA-7
and SA-24 shoulder-fired surface-to-air
missiles.

The SA-7 missile is effective up to 1,300
metres, while some newer models reach
altitudes of almost four kilometres.

Although most aircraft cruise around 9,140
metres, the SA-7 could be used to target
aircraft during takeoff and landing.

In the report, the committee warned, “It
does not take much imagination to picture
the threat these weapons would pose to
commercial aviation in Abuja if they fell
into Boko Haram hands.”

Out of the 20,000 such weapons in Libya,
only 5,000 of them had been secured
through a $40m US programme to buy up
loose missiles during the fall of the Gadhafi
regime. Most are believed to have found
their way into countries that share common
boundaries with Nigeria.

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The committee acknowledged that the
Goodluck Jonathan administration had
taken some potentially promising steps in
its effort to fight Boko Haram.

It said the appointment of Col. Sambo
Dasuki (retd), a northern Nigerian Muslim,
to the position of National Security Adviser
on June 23, 2012, demonstrated Jonathan’s
willingness to give northerners and
Muslims a visible role in Nigeria’s struggle
with Boko Haram.

“Dasuki has taken the lead in organising
government’s fight against Boko Haram,
and his background as a Muslim from the
North may give him obvious and potent
symbolic significance,” the committee said.

In spite of this, the committee observed
that concerns regarding the capability of
the Jonathan administration to effectively
deal with Boko Haram remained prominent.

The committee said without foreign
assistance from countries such as the US
and the UK, the Nigerian government would
almost certainly face a prolonged battle in
neutralising Boko Haram.

According to the committee, the State
Department, which has also engaged
Nigeria through its African Coastal and
Border Security programme, has focused
its assistance on peacekeeping support,
training, border and maritime security, and
increasing military professionalisation.

But it lamented that in spite of the training,
the “JTF continues to behave
unprofessionally, and has been accused of
human rights abuses by Human Rights
Watch, among other entities, including the
State Department’s most recent annual
human rights report.”

It also warned that greater pressure must
be applied to the JTF to abandon counter-
productive and brutal tactics alienating
northerners.

The committee said failure of the Secretary
of State to designate the Boko Haram sect
an FTO, was the ‘most obvious flaw in the
US effort to combat it and prevent its
expansion.’

It said, “If Boko Haram were to be
designated an FTO, it would support US
intelligence community efforts to curb the
group’s financing, stigmatise and isolate it
internationally, heighten public awareness
and knowledge, and signal to other
governments the US takes the threat from
Boko Haram seriously.

“If Boko Haram is not designated an FTO,
its potential threat to the US and its
capability to attack the homeland would
likely increase. It is therefore an urgent
next step to take in fighting this growing al
Qaeda affiliate in Nigeria.”

The committee further said as the number
of attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram had
increased in 2013, so had the attention
paid to the group by the US.

SOURCE:Punchng