#News: ISIS Leader Accepts Allegiance Of Nigeria's Boko Haram

[HuffingtonPost]

BEIRUT, March 12 (Reuters) - The leader of the Islamic State  militant group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq has  accepted a pledge of allegiance from Nigerian Islamists Boko  Haram, his spokesman said in an audio message transmitted on  Thursday.                

"Our caliph, God save him, has accepted the pledge of  loyalty of our brothers of Boko Haram so we congratulate Muslims  and our jihadi brothers in West Africa," spokesman Abu Mohammad  al-Adnani said, referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr  al-Baghdadi.                

Islamic State, an ultra-hardline offshoot of al Qaeda, has  declared a caliphate in captured territory in Iraq and Syria and  has gained global notoriety for killing or kidnapping members of  religious minorities and posting videos of its members killing  Arab and Western hostages.                

Boko Haram, which has killed thousands and kidnapped  hundreds during a six-year campaign to carve out an Islamist  state in northern Nigeria, pledged its allegiance to Baghdadi's  group last week, highlighting increased coordination between  jihadi movements across north Africa and the Middle East.                

In the audio message, Adnani called on Muslims who could not  join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq to enter combat in Africa  instead. He also issued a threat to Jews and Christians.                

"If you want to save your blood and money and live in safety  from our swords ... you have two choices: either convert or pay  jezyah," he said, referring to tax for non-Muslims under Islamic  rule.                

"(Otherwise) you will soon bite your fingers with remorse."                

Adnani also played down reports of military setbacks for the  group which is coming under attack from Iraqi and Kurdish forces  as well as U.S.-led air strikes.                

In Syria, Kurdish YPG fighters have cut an important supply  route from territory controlled by Islamic State in Iraq.                

"The State remains steadfast ... and is becoming stronger  and continues to be victorious," Adnani said, describing gains  claimed by its enemies as "fake."                

"It is a mere taking back of a few villages in a war that is  about attack and retreat," he said, in the group's first  official reaction to the developments.         (Reporting by Ali Abdelaty and Mariam Karouny; Writing by  Sylvia Westall; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Source: huffingtonPost