Boko Haram

===Relationship with other militant groups===
It has long been alleged that Boko Haram had a relationship with [[al-Qaeda]]. In 2011, letters from Boko Haram were reportedly found in [[Osama bin Laden]]'s compound.<ref name="thedailybeast.com">{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/11/boko-haram-s-bin-laden-connection.html |title=Boko Haram's Bin Laden Connection |website=[[The Daily Beast]]|date=11 May 2014 |last1=Lake |first1=Eli }}</ref>

Three weeks after the [[2009 Boko Haram uprising]] began, [[al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb]] expressed sympathy for Boko Haram.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/world/africa/abduction-of-girls-an-act-not-even-al-qaeda-can-condone.html|title=Abduction of Girls an Act Not Even Al Qaeda Can Condone|date=8 May 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> Speaking by phone to reporters in November 2012, group spokesman [[Abu Qaqa]] said: "We are together with al-Qaeda, they are promoting the cause of Islam, just as we are doing. Therefore they help us in our struggle and we help them, too." The 2012 Reuters special report details how fighters have trained with al-Qaeda affiliates in small groups over at least 6 years.<ref name="Reuters"/>

According to the UN Security Council listing of Boko Haram under the al-Qaeda sanctions regime in May 2014,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2014/sc11410.doc.htm |title=Security Council Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee |publisher=United Nations}}</ref> the group "has maintained a relationship with [[al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb|AQIM]] for training and material support purposes", and "gained valuable knowledge on the construction of improvised explosive devices from AQIM". The UN found that a "number of Boko Haram members fought alongside al Qaeda affiliated groups in Mali in 2012 and 2013 before returning to Nigeria with terrorist expertise". AQIM is one of al-Qaeda's regional branches, whose leader, [[Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud]], has sworn an oath of allegiance to al-Qaeda's senior leadership.<ref name="longwarjournal.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/05/un_adds_boko_haram_t.php |title=UN adds Boko Haram to al Qaeda sanctions list |date=23 May 2014 |publisher=longwarjournal.org}}</ref>

Despite its historic ties with Boko Haram, al-Qaeda central has never officially accepted Boko Haram as an affiliate. The issues which divide AQ and Boko Haram are related to the extremism of Abubakar Shekau with respect to his declaration that the entire Muslim population of Nigeria is non-Muslim. Shekau argued that it was legitimate to kill Muslim civilians based on his belief that [[apostasy]] was widespread among the general population of Nigerian Muslims because they voted in elections. Al-Qaeda believes that the general Muslim population of Nigeria should be considered Muslim and based on al-Qaeda's point of view, the killing of civilians is unacceptable.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-boko-haram-nigeria-20150115-story.html |title=How to help Nigerians defeat Boko Haram |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=15 January 2015}}</ref>

Boko Haram has engaged in battle with IS W Africa.