Boko Haram offers ISIS gateway to west Africa 02:32
(CNN)Nigerian
troops discovered a Boko Haram bomb factory this week after they seized
a northern town from the extremists, the military said.
The factory was tucked inside a fertilizer company in Buni Yadi town in Yobe state, according to officials.
Islamist
fighters took over the town in August, one of many seized in the
troubled northeast. Troops have battled the militants for months to
regain control, and said they recaptured it last week.
Militants
planted explosive devices along the highway on their way out, which
delayed the soldiers' advance. Four soldiers were killed during the
operation.
Soldiers have been scouring
the factory and have found suicide bomber vests and improvised
explosive devices, the military said Friday.
"Troops
are still evacuating the materials ... a large quantity of improvised
explosive devices, including those commonly used by suicide bombers,
were recovered from the site," the military said in a statement.
ISIS welcomes Boko Haram
The discovery comes days after ISIS purportedly said it welcomed Boko Haram after the latter pledged allegiance to it.
In
an audio message purportedly from an ISIS spokesman, the group
announced that it had accepted a pledge of allegiance from Boko Haram.
ISIS supporters posted the audio online. CNN cannot independently verify the 28-minute message.
The
message says that ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State, has
expanded to western Africa and congratulated "our jihadi brothers"
there.
An ISIS spokesman encouraged people to join fighters in Africa if they cannot make it to Iraq or Syria.
The ISIS terror threat 50 photos
Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, announced in an audio message last week that his terror group wanted to join ISIS.
Years of terror
Boko
Haram has terrorized northern Nigeria regularly since 2009, attacking
police, schools, churches, mosques and civilians. It has also kidnapped
students, including more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted in April
and remain missing.
The Islamist group has said its aim is to impose a stricter form of Sharia law across Nigeria.
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