‘Nigeria faces relentless Boko Haram, ISIS attacks’ – US report

Nigeria faced persistent terrorism attacks in 2022, the U.S. Department of States has said in its latest 2022 Country Reports on Terrorism, (CRT).

The report highlights the relentless attacks conducted by ISIS-West Africa (ISIS-WA), Boko Haram and Ansaru across the northern and central regions of Nigeria in 2022.

The CRT report stated that, “ISIS-West Africa (ISIS-WA), Boko Haram and Ansaru continued attacks against Nigerian government and security forces and civilians across the northern and central regions of Nigeria, resulting in deaths, injuries, abductions, and the destruction of property.

“As the United States confronts a diverse and dynamic range of national security challenges, the U.S. government is deploying the full range of CT (counter-terrorism) tools to ensure a sustainable whole-of-government and whole-of-society CT approach with allies and partners around the world,” said U.S. Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller, in a statement announcing the report’s release.

For armed activity in Nigeria, the report reveals the use of a variety of tactics, including use of small arms, capturing military equipment, deploying improvised explosive devices (IEDs), ambushes, and kidnappings. ISIS-WA and Boko Haram conducted hundreds of attacks against Nigerian government and security forces, as well as civilians, according to the report.

The report also describes Nigeria’s efforts to counter the financing of terrorism.

Nigeria is an active member of the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) and its Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is a part of the Egmont Group. The November GIABA follow-up report acknowledged Nigeria’s substantial progress in addressing technical compliance deficiencies identified in the 2021 mutual evaluation.

The annual report follows a U.S. law on annual country reports on terrorism requires the U.S. Secretary of State to provide Congress, by 30 April of each year with a report on terrorism regarding countries and groups.

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