US designates Boko Haram leaders as terrorists

Washington, 22 Jun – (ANA) - Three leaders of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist group have been designated as terrorists by the US state department. Abubakar Shekau leads the militant group, while Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid el Barnawi are thought to have ties with a branch of al-Qaeda. The move means any assets belonging to the men in the US will be frozen, and contact with US citizens banned. Boko Haram has said it carried out a number of attacks against churches and other establishments since 2009. More than 640 people have died in the country so far in 2012 in attacks blamed on the group. Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is a sacrilege" in the Hausa language, is based in the dominantly Muslim north of Nigeria. The south of the oil rich country is mostly Christian. It is thought some members of Boko Harem have connections with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a group already designated as a terrorist organisation by the US. (ANA)

FA/ANA/22 June 2012-----------