Woolwich attack: Were the suspected killers influenced by Nigerian terrorists?

by Harriet Alexander
The two men who suspected of murdering a soldier in Woolwich were both British citizens, but their origins were in the troubled West African country of Nigeria.

A wanted poster in the northeastern Nigerian town of Maiduguri shows a photograph of Abubakar Shekau, described as the leader of Boko Haram

British authorities are still trying to work out whether the Woolwich attackers were motivated by the Nigerian army’s recent offensive in the north – for the moment they remain unsure of any direct links. And Boko Haram has never before attempted any attacks outside of Nigeria.

Nigeria has for several years been plagued by Islamic terror groups – the most prominent of which, Boko Haram, has carried out a bloody campaign against Western values of freedom and democracy. Their name means “Western education is a sin”.
And although the police have not confirmed any links between the killers and Nigerian jihadi groups, there remains the very real possibility that the men were influenced by terrorist rhetoric coming from their homeland.
Boko Haram is strongest in the north of Nigeria, where it has launched a series of attacks on the government, UN and Christian targets. Established in 2002 as a non-violent Islamic splinter group, it mutated in 2009 into a jihadist organisation and has been blamed for 800 killings in Nigeria in the past year alone. It has scant hierarchical leadership and is a loose affiliation of jihadists, without one dominant ruler. But last week posters went up around the north east with ransom promises for a list of wanted men – including Abubakar Shekau, described as Boko Haram’s leader.
Its most spectacular assault to date was the attack on the UN compound in the capital, Abuja, in August 2011 – one of the deadliest attacks on the UN in its history. Twenty three people were killed and 76 wounded following a car bomb explosion in the offices.
Since then Boko Haram has carried out almost weekly bombings in towns and churches across the north east, and set fire to a series of schools. In March last year 10,000 children were left without access to education after a dozen schools were burnt down in Maiduguri, a city of 1.1 million people close to the border with Chad, and the heartland of Boko Haram. Maiduguri was also the site of some of the worst sectarian violence in recent years, with 700 people killed in July 2009 attacks.
Two Western hostages – Chris McManus, an engineer from Oldham, and Italian Franco Lamolinara – were killed last year after a shoot-out with special forces attempting to rescue them. British officials at the time blamed a splinter wing of Boko Haram for holding the men, although a Boko Haram spokesman denied their involvement.
President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three north-eastern states last week to quell the insurgency, deploying 2,000 soldiers to the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, while the city itself was subject to a curfew after a series of bombings and raids on army barracks. On Monday the army claimed it had arrested 120 Islamic militants in the city.
British authorities are still trying to work out whether the Woolwich attackers were motivated by the Nigerian army’s recent offensive in the north – for the moment they remain unsure of any direct links. And Boko Haram has never before attempted any attacks outside of Nigeria.
Andrew Walker, who has spoken to several senior Boko Haram commanders, wrote in a report last year for the US Institute of Peace: “Boko Haram is not in the same global jihadist bracket as Algeria’s al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or Somalia’s al Shabab.”Despite its successful attack on the UN compound in Abuja in August 2011, Boko Haram is not bent on attacking Western interests. There have been no further attacks on international interests since that time.”