Who are Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and Boko Haram deadly terrorist groups in Africa?
Parts of Africa are under constant terrorist
attacks and live with the constant threat of terrorism throughout their daily
lives. According to Wikipedia list of 2017 terrorist attacks, the four groups responsible for the majority of the terrorist attacks or suspected
are Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and Boko Haram.
Al-Shabaab
 |
Al-Shabab means The Youth in Arabic is a Salafist
jihadist group based in East Africa, mainly Somalia. |
Al-Shabaab
means The Youth in Arabic is a Salafist jihadist group based in East Africa,
mainly Somalia. Al-Shabab has staged numerous attacks in Kenya because it has
sent its troops into Somali territory. In February 2010, the group is allied to
al-Qaeda. Al-Shabaab has carried out more than 360 attacks in Somalia from 2006-2017.
On
January 27, 2017, Al-Shabaab killed at least 57 soldiers in takeover of
peacekeeping base in Kulbiyow, Somalia. In the middle of the day on September
21, 2013, al-Shabaab fighters stormed a busy Nairobi Kenya shopping center,
throwing grenades and firing indiscriminately at shoppers for 4 days resulting
in at least 67 deaths. Al-Shabaab was declared terrorist
group by US on March 18, 2008.
Al-Qaeda
 |
Al-Qaeda is the oldest of the Islamist militant groups
operating in North Africa |
Al-Qaeda
means The Base in Arabic and is broad-based militant Islamist organization
founded by Osama bin Laden in 1989. The oldest of the Islamist militant groups
operating in North Africa, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) came into
being in 2005 when it changed its name from the Algerian Salafi Group for Call
and Combat (GSPC) and announced its allegiance to Osama Bin Laden. In February
2017, 15 people were killed and 19 injured in Tiloa, Niger in an ambush attack by Al-Qaeda
militants. Al-Qaeda was declared terrorist group by US on October 8, 1999.
Islamic State formerly known as
ISIS
 |
Soldiers who defeated Islamic State formerly
known as ISIS militants show arms
captured from combatants. |
Islamic
State formerly known as ISIS can trace its roots back to the late Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian. In 2004, a year after the US-led invasion of Iraq,
Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and formed al-Qaeda in Iraq
(AQI), which became a major force in the insurgency.
February
2017, Islamic State militants in Qandala, Somalia executed three civilians and
three soldiers. In the same month, two Christians were killed by Islamic State
militants. The first was shot dead and the second was abducted and later burned
alive. Islamic State was declared terrorist group by US on December 17, 2004.
Boko Haram
 |
Former captive of Boko Haram |
Boko
Haram founded in 2002 official Arabic name, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati
wal-Jihad, means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings
and Jihad" was initially focused on
opposing Western education earning the nickname Boko Haram, which means "Western
education is forbidden" in the Hausa language. Adamawa, Borno and Yobe are
the three Nigerian states worst-affected by Boko Haram.
Boko Haram declared
terrorist group by US in 2013. About 11 people were killed
Saturday March 28, 2015 and two more injured in
attacks apparently by Boko Haram in voting stations in the northeastern state
of Gombe Nigeria.
Boko
Haram states its purpose is to institute Sharia, or Islamic law. Women and
girls who were former captives of Boko Haram face marginalization and rejection
by family and community members because of social and cultural norms related to
sexual violence. Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it
"haram", or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or
social activity associated with Western society.
What is a terrorist organization?
 |
Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and Boko Haram
are the four deadliest terrorist organizations in Africa |
The Bureau of Counterterrorism in the US State
Department reviews potential foreign organizations by investigating
actual terrorist attacks that a group has carried out, also if the group has
engaged in planning and preparations for possible future acts of terrorism or
retains the capability and intent to carry out such acts.
The organization’s terrorist activity or
terrorism must threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security
(national defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests) of the United
States.
The organization must engage in terrorist
activity, as defined in section 212 (a)(3)(B) of the INA or terrorism, as
defined in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal
Years 1988 and 1989 or retain the capability and intent to engage in terrorist
activity or terrorism.