Eid al-Fitr got off to a horrific start in Iraq, where a car bombing in a Shiʿa town in Diyala Province killed at least 115 people, and in Nigeria, where multiple suicide bombers in the northern part of the country killed at least 64 people. ISIS took responsibility for the bombing in Iraq, while Boko Haram (which recently adopted the name “Islamic State’s West African Province,” or ISWAP) was responsible for the attacks in Nigeria.
Boko Haram/ISWAP has been particularly active in recent weeks, since Muhammadu Buhari was inaugurated president and promised to defeat the group, forming a multi-national force to that end. In fact, problems getting that force up and running, and a decrease in support from Niger and Chad, seems to be opening up more space for Boko Haram to operate and may help to explain some of the recent upsurge in their activity. Buhari canned several of his top military chiefs earlier this week, which seems like a clear sign that he’s unhappy with how things are going. Yesterday, Boko Haram reportedly attacked a Chadian border village and were driven off by Chadian forces, so that may light a fire under the effort to get the multinational force going.
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The Foreign Exchanges Companion 