How Wars Are Fought 289
(Continued)
group Location characteristics and attacks
Boko Haram
(Western Ways
Are Forbidden)
Nigeria’s relatively
impoverished
northern states;
some activities in
neighboring states
Salafi jihadists who violently pursue
the establishment of a strict version
of Sharia law throughout Nigeria.
Kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in
Chibok, Nigeria, in April 2014. As
of early 2016, none of the girls have
been rescued.
Haqqani
network
Pashtunistan
(eastern Af ghan i
stan and western
Pakistan)
Insurgent Islamist group;
supported by U.S. CIA during
Soviet occupation of Af ghan i stan;
now allied with Taliban and tacitly
supported by Pakistan; fought
against ISAF in Af ghan i stan
until 2010.
the islamic
State
Centered in Syria
and Northern Iraq,
but actively
franchising to
Yemen, Af ghan i
stan, Libya, and
possibly Chechnya
An outgrowth of Al Qaeda in Iraq,
currently led by Abu Bakr al
Baghdadi, a former se nior officer in
Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Army and
self proclaimed Caliph; the world’s
wealthiest terrorist group; aims to
establish an “Islamic” caliphate (no
territorial bound aries) and is
responsible for thousands of
murders, including beheadings,
rapes, and sexual slavery of any who
oppose its restrictive interpretation
of Sharia law.
Preventing terrorist activity has become increasingly difficult because most perpe-
trators have networks of supporters in the resident populations. Protecting popula-
tions from random acts of vio lence is an almost impossible task, given the availability
of guns and bombs in the international marketplace. Pressure on governments is very
strong because people worry disproportionately about terrorism, even though it kills a
relatively small number of people, and because many people believe a violent
response by state security forces will help protect them. Despite advances in detection