The United States named Nigerian groups Boko Haram and Ansaru as terrorist organizations, after an escalating campaign of attacks against civilians by the militants with suspected links to al-Qaeda.
In a statement Wednesday, U.S. counterterrorism official Lisa Monaco said the two groups have been responsible for thousands of deaths in northeast and central Nigeria in recent years, Voice of America reports.
She said the groups have carried out dozens of attacks on churches and mosques, as well as targeted killings of civilians. U.S. officials blame Boko Haram for a 2011 attack on a U.N. building in Abuja that killed 21 people.
The designation cuts off Boko Haram and Ansaru from U.S. financial institutions and allows banks to freeze their assets held in the United States.
The announcement came as a U.S. congressional subcommittee holds a hearing on the threat posed by Boko Haram, Nigeria’s most prominent militant organization.
Earlier this year, Ansaru declared itself a splinter group independent of Boko Haram. U.S. officials said Ansaru’s attacks have focused mostly on Nigerian military and Western targets.
Before Wednesday’s hearing, committee chairman Christopher Smith said Boko Haram fit the definition of a terrorist group and should be designated as such, the VOA report said.
The group has received both training and limited financial support from al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, according to a U.S. official who briefed reporters on the condition of not being identified.
Bloomberg News reports that yesterday’s action by the State Department follows the classification of three Boko Haram leaders as “specially designated global terrorists” in June 2012. The Nigerian government was consulted and supported the latest U.S. decision, according to a second U.S. official who spoke under the same rules as the first.
The new designation “is likely to encourage greater collaboration between Nigerian Islamist groups and al-Qaeda and its affiliates in the Sahel,” said Murtala Touray, a senior Africa analyst at IHS Country Risk, in e-mailed comments.
“Moreover, the U.S. government’s decision will raise the risk of targeted attacks on assets belonging to the U.S. and other foreign businesses and organizations operating in northern Nigeria,” Touray said.
