Britain sanctions African ISIS affiliate groups

UN designated Boko Haram and IS in Greater Sahara on Sunday

(FILES) This screen grab image taken from a video released on January 2, 2018 by Islamist group Boko Haram shows Boko Haram fighters during a Christmas Day attack on a military checkpoint in Molai village on the outskirts of the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, which the military said was thwarted by troops after one hour of battle. Since early December jihadists disguised as soldiers had been setting up checkpoints to snare and abduct unsuspecting passengers. They appeared to focus on Christians, aid workers and military personnel. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / BOKO HARAM" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
 / AFP / BOKO HARAM / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / BOKO HARAM" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
Powered by automated translation

The UK on Monday moved to add IS in the Greater Sahara and Boko Haram to its list of terrorist organisations.

Boko Haram, led by Abubakar Shekau, was was formed in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf and has committed many terrorist attacks in Nigeria.

The Greater Sahara group was formed in May 2015 by Adnan Abu Walid Al Sahraoui and has launched terror attacks in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

The financial sanctions, announced by the British Treasury, mean the two groups will have their assets being frozen, and are subject to travel bans and arms embargoes.

The assets freeze will apply from 11.59pm GMT on March 24, the Treasury said.

On Sunday, the UN added the two groups to its sanctions list.

On Monday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered his troops to pursue Boko Haram militants for attacks in the country.

On February 11, militants killed 30 people and abducted women and children in Nigeria’s north-east Borno state.

The decade-long insurgency has killed 36,000 people and displaced about 2 million from their homes in north-east Nigeria.

The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, leading to the creation of a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.