ISIS' decision to oust notorious Boko Haram leader is tearing group apart

ISIS' decision to oust notorious Boko Haram leader is tearing group apart, report says | Fox News

Barnawi, rumored to be a son of the group’s founder, reportedly told ISIS’ newspaper that jihadists should shift their focus to Nigeria’s Christians, in a bid to win over public support after Shekau spent years attacking Muslim villages that didn’t join Boko Haram’s ranks.

The group, an ISIS affiliate, should be “booby-trapping and blowing up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all those we find from the citizens of the cross,” Barnawi told the newspaper, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Such a move could exploit existing tensions in Nigerian communities with split Muslim and Christian populations, the newspaper added.

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But Shekau has not recognized Barnawi’s appointment, accusing him of apostasy and saying that ISIS’ leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been duped.

The two factions have been clashing as a result, accusing each other of abandoning their faith, The Wall Street Journal reported

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So Barnawi is the less violent leader?

Quite a faith they have.

Erod said:

ISIS' decision to oust notorious Boko Haram leader is tearing group apart, report says | Fox News





So Barnawi is the less violent leader?

Quite a faith they have.

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So, the totally crazy leaders of ISIS aren't getting along so well. Who could have seen that one coming?

Dittohead not! said:

So, the totally crazy leaders of ISIS aren't getting along so well. Who could have seen that one coming?

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The problem is, there are about 25,000 total crazy leaders leading thousands more.

ISIS is the new Mohammad. Which ever Boko leader thinks more like the prophet will be the one ISIS backs. In this case I think Mohammad would definitely kill the unbelievers first, but would have no qualms killing other Muslims that did not cut it afterwords.

Boko Haram controls large sections of Nigeria, in addition to territory in neighboring Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

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They don't.

Boko Haram have been on the back foot since President Buhari took power and have lost a lot of ground. The Nigerian army which was in serious retreat has rallied to some extent and is facing down Boko Haram in battles rather than running away as often. As for reports BH controls parts of Chad, Chad freshly defeated Al Qaeda's forces in Mali last year and have sent troops in with the Nigerians and Niger armies around lake Chad to push Boko Haram back.

Makes me doubt the rest of Fox's story but hey, if Boko Haram starts tearing itself apart that's fine with me.

Infinite Chaos said:

They don't.

Boko Haram have been on the back foot since President Buhari took power and have lost a lot of ground. The Nigerian army which was in serious retreat has rallied to some extent and is facing down Boko Haram in battles rather than running away as often. As for reports BH controls parts of Chad, Chad freshly defeated Al Qaeda's forces in Mali last year and have sent troops in with the Nigerians and Niger armies around lake Chad to push Boko Haram back.

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Agreed. The campaign against jihadists in West Africa has been a qualified success. Unfortunately, aside from Libya, what the French did there cannot serve as a model elsewhere.

Makes me doubt the rest of Fox's story but hey, if Boko Haram starts tearing itself apart that's fine with me.

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I'm not one to defend FOX News, but mainstream media in general doesn't do a great job of reporting on these conflicts. In an article about Gary Johnson's Aleppo gaffe, The New York Times referred to the city as "the de facto capital of the Islamic State," despite the fact that the Islamic State has no presence Aleppo proper. The fact that the vast majority of people don't care about politics outside of the US and Europe makes this an infuriatingly difficult problem to address.