Boko Haram Under Scrutiny Over Foreign Fighters Claim

Cameroon's claims this week that two Tuareg fighters were among the
dead when troops bombarded Boko Haram positions have sparked fresh
interest in the group's links to the wider jihadi network.

Communication minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary did not elaborate on the
nationality of the foreigners, who were among the more than 100 killed
during an attempted cross-border raid at the weekend.

But with the Tuareg spread across Mali and Algeria, which are both
home to Islamist groups, the claim is coming under close examination.

Boko Haram was designated an Al-Qaeda-linked terror group earlier this
year while its recent land grab in Nigeria's northeast has prompted
comparisons to Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

Analysts remain sceptical, though, about the extent of its direct
operational links with outside groups, despite claims that some
fighters were trained in Mali and that arms are being smuggled from
Libya.

Andrew Noakes, co-ordinator of the Nigeria Security Network of
analysts, said it was "plausible" that Boko Haram had fighters from
beyond the lands populated by its Kanuri tribal base.

"There is most likely a relationship of convenience between Boko Haram
and AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), which may stretch to
sourcing militants from outside the insurgency's traditional area of
recruitment," he told AFP by email.

"But we should retain a healthy degree of scepticism about the
particular claim of Tuaregs fighting with Boko Haram."

- Hired mercenaries

Cameroon's claims this week that two Tuareg fighters were among the
dead when troops bombarded Boko Haram positions have sparked fresh
interest in the group's links to the wider jihadi network.

Communication minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary did not elaborate on the
nationality of the foreigners, who were among the more than 100 killed
during an attempted cross-border raid at the weekend.

But with the Tuareg spread across Mali and Algeria, which are both
home to Islamist groups, the claim is coming under close examination.

Boko Haram was designated an Al-Qaeda-linked terror group earlier this
year while its recent land grab in Nigeria's northeast has prompted
comparisons to Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

Analysts remain sceptical, though, about the extent of its direct
operational links with outside groups, despite claims that some
fighters were trained in Mali and that arms are being smuggled from
Libya.

Andrew Noakes, co-ordinator of the Nigeria Security Network of
analysts, said it was "plausible" that Boko Haram had fighters from
beyond the lands populated by its Kanuri tribal base.

"There is most likely a relationship of convenience between Boko Haram
and AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb), which may stretch to
sourcing militants from outside the insurgency's traditional area of
recruitment," he told AFP by email.

"But we should retain a healthy degree of scepticism about the
particular claim of Tuaregs fighting with Boko Haram."
Security sources in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, say Boko Haram has
hired mercenaries for some time from neighbouring countries such as
Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

"These fighters are paid allowances after every raid, which ranges
between 50,000 naira ($300) and 150,000 naira for each fighter," the
source told AFP in a recent interview.

Others said the recruitment was to be expected, given the increase in
violence this year that has left thousands dead and prompted hundreds
of thousands of civilians to flee.

But Kyari Mohammed, a Boko Haram specialist from the Centre for Peace
Studies in Yola, Adamawa state, said he questioned how many foreign
guns-for-hire had been recruited.

"When you are fighting this kind of war you expect an influx of
mercenaries, especially in this region where we have porous borders
and a history of violence," he said.

"There could be infiltration of mercenaries across these borders but
not on a huge scale."