The ranks of ISIS just grew a bit bigger, as Boko Haram, Nigeria's home-grown terror group, offered up a formal pledge of allegiance to the fast-moving and vicious terrorist organization.
"We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims ... and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity, in hardship and ease, and to endure being discriminated against, and not to dispute about rule with those in power, except in case of evident infidelity regarding that which is a proof from Allah," said Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, in an Arabic audio message with English subtitles posted on Twitter, the SITE Intelligence monitoring service found.
ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has declared himself the caliph.
Boko Haram made the announcement on the heels of a handful of suicide bomb attacks that left dozens dead and more than 150 wounded in Maiduguri, the city of birth for the terror group, The Associated Press reported. The pledge also comes at a time when the terror group is rallying in the town believed to be their headquarters, Gwoza, for a planned fight with a multinational force, AP reported.
The pledge of allegiance hasn't been independently confirmed. But Boko Haram has recently begun publishing videos of beheadings of captives online – a tactic that's been specific to ISIS in recent months.