A US military general, Thomas Waldhauser has made it known that there is an internal fracas in within the dreaded Boko Haram sect because Shekau unwillingness to adhere to instructions from the Iraq and Syria-based Islamic State.

Waldhauser, who happens to be the nominee to lead US military’s Africa Command, revealed this on Wednesday during his hearing before the senate armed services committee.

“Several months ago, about half of Boko Haram broke off to a separate group because they were not happy with the amount of buy-in, if you will, from Boko Haram into the ISIL brand,’’ he said.

One of the Islamic State’s instructions to Boko Haram was to refrain from using children as suicide bombers but that did not gone down well with Shekau.

“He’s been told by ISIL to stop doing that, but he has not done so, and that’s one of the reasons why this splinter group has broken off. But, the Islamic State was trying to reconcile those two groups,” he said.

He furthered that there is no proof to whether the sect has received any operational support or financing from Islamic State. He added that going by assessment, the loyalty of Boko Haram sect to ISIS was just a form of branding.
 

“What concerns me is the break-off group of Boko Haram, which wants to be more ISIL-like, and consequently buy into the ISIL-brand of attacking western interests,” he said.

Meanwhile, an army officer in Niger said a multinational force had begun operations against Boko Haram along the border with Nigeria.