The United States government has announced the imposition of sanction on the terrorists group, Boko Haram, and its factional leader, Mus’ab al-Barnawi.
The faction is believed to be responsible for the kidnap of the students of Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, on February 19.
The new sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department are aimed at the Islamic State and its affiliate networks around the world.
Boko Haram is an affiliate of the Islamic State and known as ISIS-West Africa, having pledged allegiance to ISIS.
al-Barnawi and Mahad Moalim from Somalia and seven organisations in Africa and Asia, linked to Islamic State, ISIS were added to the list.
The other additions, according to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, include ISIS-Philippines, ISIS-Bangladesh, ISIS-West Africa, ISIS-Egypt, ISIS-Somalia, Jund al-Khilafah-Tunisia, also known as ISIS-Tunisia, and the Philippines-based Maute Group, also known as Islamic State of Lanao.
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In another statement, according to Reuters, the U.S. State Department said it had designated 40 Islamic State leaders and operatives dating back to 2011 under an order aimed at denying them access to the U.S. financial system.
The order affects the new additions.
The statement reads: “These designations are part of a larger comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS that, in coordination with the 75-member Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, has made significant progress toward that goal.
“This effort is destroying ISIS in its safe havens, denying its ability to recruit foreign terrorist fighters, stifling its financial resources, negating the false propaganda it disseminates over the internet and social media, and helping to stabilise liberated areas in Iraq and Syria so the displaced can return to their homes and begin to rebuild their lives.”
Boko Haram struck on February 19 at Dapchi in Yobe State, abducting 110 students.
Efforts are ongoing to rescue the school girls.
On Tuesday, the federal government released additional details of the abducted students.
