FaithWorld

(Security forces view the scene of a bomb explosion at St. Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, Suleja, just outside Nigeria's capital Abuja, December 25, 2011. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde)

With a YouTube video reminiscent of the broadcasts of Osama bin Laden, Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram seems keen to paint itself as part of a wider global jihad. But in reality, their concerns and focus look to remain almost entirely Nigerian. Whilst recent high-profile attacks including the bombing of a United Nations compound in August resembled Islamist attacks long common elsewhere, analysts say there remain few proven links to similar militants elsewhere.

Instead, it is seen much more focused on domestic issues — part of a wider swelling of discontent against the current mainly southern and Christian leadership. But there is little doubt it is growing in both power and momentum.

The group, whose name means “Western education is sinful” in the northern Hausa language, is blamed for almost daily killings that have escalated from small-scale shootings to increasingly sophisticated attacks. Last year, the sect carried out a suicide car bombing of the UN headquarters in the capital Abuja, killing 24. On Christmas Day, coordinated explosions targeted Christians with 37 killed in a single church, again near Abuja.

Security analysts say the group remains disparate and quite possibly divided. But with wider unrest simmering and the country increasingly being brought to a standstill by strikes over government attempts to abolish fuel subsidies, they could prove at the very least a mounting irritant.See also

Read the full story here. See also: Nigeria Christmas church bomb suspect escapes.
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