Islamic State Accepts Allegiance Offer From Boko Haram

A spokesperson for the Islamic State has purportedly accepted an offer of allegiance from the Nigerian-based Boko Haram terrorist group.

An audio message reportedly released on social media by the Islamic State reveals a man, Mohammed al-Adnani, who claims to be a spokesman for the Islamic State, accepting Boko Haram's request for allegiance.

"We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to West Africa because the caliph [...] has accepted the allegiance of our brothers of the Sunni group for preaching and the jihad," al-Adnani says in the recording.

A video shared by the Nigerian-based terrorist group Boko Haram last week shows the group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, announcing his organization's allegiance to the Islamic State, which established a strict Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq last year.

"We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims [...] and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity, in hardship and ease, and to endure being discriminated against, and not to dispute about rule with those in power, except in case of evident infidelity regarding that which there is a proof from Allah,'' said Boko Haram's message.

Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan recently claimed that Boko Haram militants had been traveling to the Middle East to join Islamic State training camps, although it remains unclear which countries they may have traveled to.

Some counterterrorism experts have argued that the Islamic State accepted the allegiance call from Boko Haram after suffering a series of defeats in Iraq and Syria at the hands of Iraqi troops and the U.S. led coalition fight against the terrorism group.