Boko Haram insurgency

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The Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009, when the militant Islamist and jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. Boko Haram targets both Muslims and Christians. Attacks are often directed at individuals perceived as supporting the Nigerian government or Islamic State after the split between them, including civil servants, local defense groups, Muslim leaders who oppose the group and other rebels like al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Most attacks are not based on the religion of the victims. Boko Haram's initial uprising failed, and its leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed by the Nigerian government. He began the group in 2002 with a view of opposing western education with his followers. The movement consequently fractured into autonomous groups and started an insurgency, though rebel commander Abubakar Shekau managed to achieve a kind of primacy among the insurgents. Though challenged by internal rivals, such as Abu Usmatul al-Ansari's Salafist...

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