Boko Haram Insurgency

The Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009, when the militant Islamist and jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. Boko Haram targets both Muslims and Christians, and its attacks are often directed at individuals perceived as supporting the Nigerian government or, after the split between them, the Islamic State, including civil servants, local defense groups and Muslim leaders who oppose the group. Most attacks are not based on the religion of the victims. The group's initial uprising failed and its leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed by the Nigerian government. He had begun the group in 2002 to oppose western education, and the movement afterward fractured into autonomous groups.