The kidnapping of*more than 200*Nigerian schoolgirls last month has sparked global outrage, launched an international manhunt*and instantly*turned an obscure West African militant*group into a household name in*the United States.*And it has raised a central question:*Does the rapidly*growing number of*al Qaeda splinter groups*pose as much of*a threat as*al Qaeda itself? Over the last five years, al Qaeda has atomized, according to experts.*As drone*strikes and*other attacks weakened the core, small, largely auto**mous groups inspired*by Osama bin Laden?s ideology are emerging, becoming self-financing and, in some cases,*growing more radicalized*than the parent itself. Boko Haram, for example,*is*inspired*by al Qaeda*but acts on its own and, according to U.S. officials, receives*most of its funding from local robberies and kidnappings. In Syria and Iraq, the same is true of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, disavowed by core al Qaeda after the parent*urged it to kill fewer civilians*and obey other edicts.
05-28-2014, 09:11 PM
Boko Haram shows changing al Qaeda threat
The kidnapping of*more than 200*Nigerian schoolgirls last month has sparked global outrage, launched an international manhunt*and instantly*turned an obscure West African militant*group into a household name in*the United States.*And it has raised a central question:*Does the rapidly*growing number of*al Qaeda splinter groups*pose as much of*a threat as*al Qaeda itself? Over the last five years, al Qaeda has atomized, according to experts.*As drone*strikes and*other attacks weakened the core, small, largely auto**mous groups inspired*by Osama bin Laden?s ideology are emerging, becoming self-financing and, in some cases,*growing more radicalized*than the parent itself. Boko Haram, for example,*is*inspired*by al Qaeda*but acts on its own and, according to U.S. officials, receives*most of its funding from local robberies and kidnappings. In Syria and Iraq, the same is true of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, disavowed by core al Qaeda after the parent*urged it to kill fewer civilians*and obey other edicts.
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