The most dangerous terrorist group in the world is not ISIS but Boko Haram

The jihadi group Boko Haram have been revealed as the most brutal terror organisation last year, killing more people than ISIS.

The surprising findings come as two female suicide bombers, one thought to be as young as 11, blew themselves up at a busy market in the Nigerian city of Kano, killing 15 people yesterday.

The new report on global terrorism by the Institute of Economics and Peace reveals that Boko Haram murdered 6,664 people last year in comparison to ISIS’s 6,073 victims.

Nigeria has been blighted with terror attacks, predominantly by Boko Haram but also by a smaller, lesser known militant group known as the Fulani militants, who murdered 1,229 people in 2014.

‘The country witnessed the largest increase in terrorist deaths ever recorded by any country, increasing by over 300 per cent to 7,512 fatalities,’ the report notes.

The report also reveals that Boko Haram appear to have changed their targets, with an 11 per cent decrease in the number of deaths of religious figure and a 172 per cent increase in the deaths of private citizens.

Boko Haram, who pledged their allegiance to ISIS in Syria and Iraq earlier this year, have frequently used child suicide bombers and mass kidnappings to stamp their authority in north-eastern Nigeria.

They changed their name to Islamic State in West Africa after declaring their allegiance to ISIS in Syria and Iraq in March 2015.

The battle against terrorism in Nigeria remains a long campaign for President Buhari, who recently claimed that Nigerian troops were denied weapons to fight Boko Haram.

He also claimed that thousands of lives were lost because of rampant fraud in the procurement process.

Buhari ordered anyone involved in corrupt multi-billion dollar deals for weapons and equipment to be ‘brought to book’ after receiving a report from a committee set up to probe the issue.

Former national security advisor Sambo Dasuki is accused of awarding some $2 billion in ‘fictitious and phantom contracts’ for fighter jets, helicopters and bombs that never materialised.

But he hit back, denying anything untoward and stating that sensitive military deals and payments were all sanctioned by former president Goodluck Jonathan.

‘All contracts and accruing payments were with the approval of the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces,’ he said in a statement.

‘Once the ex-president approved, the former NSA paid. So, there was due process for every purchase in line with regulations guiding arms procurement for the armed forces…

‘There was no room for awarding fictitious contracts. The conclusions of the panel were presumptive, baseless and lacked diligence.’

Dasuki, a 60-year-old former army colonel, is already facing money laundering and illegal possession of weapons charges and claimed he was being targeted by Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign.

But his assertions that Jonathan knew about the payments in question will be explosive in Nigeria and could see pressure on the former president to answer questions.

The country’s former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, was arrested in London in October as part of a British investigation into bribery and money laundering.

Buhari has said ‘mind-boggling’ sums have disappeared from the oil sector and has vowed to overhaul the industry to bolster weakened government revenues caused by the global slump in crude prices.

Dasuki, who said the committee never contacted him to clarify any issues and some deals related to a time before he took office, vowed to have his day in court.

‘I am ready for trial on all these allegations in order to prove to Nigerians that I did nothing untoward in office,’ he said.

Buhari described the findings of the committee’s interim report as ‘extremely worrying’ given the desperate need for troops to have the right equipment to tackle Boko Haram.

‘Had the funds siphoned to these non-performing companies been properly used for the purpose they were meant for, thousands of needless Nigerian deaths would have been avoided,’ he added.

The retired army general and former military ruler came to power in May, vowing to crush the Islamist rebels whose insurgency has killed at least 17,000 people since 2009.

Frontline troops serving under Jonathan frequently complained the militants were better armed while they themselves lacked the proper equipment, including bullets, to fight.

In one instance, some frustrated soldiers fired shots at their commander’s vehicle. They were court-martialed, found guilty of mutiny and sentenced to death.

The complaints came despite Nigeria having one of Africa’s biggest defence budgets.

According to a statement from Buhari’s office late Tuesday, the committee ‘unearthed several illicit and fraudulent financial transactions’.

Source: Daily Mail