Mini-Islamic State: Boko Haram continues to take control over Nigerian territory

Boko Haram threatens all of Nigeria and surrounding areas as they now control about 20,000 square miles of territory. Recognized as a mini-Islamic state, Boko Haram is quickly becoming a terrorist state that pillages and threatens anything in its way.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The black flag of jihad shadows many towns and villages of Borno and Yobe, the neighboring states.

Boko Haram's latest conquest was on the shores of Lake Chad at the fishing town, Baga. "For five kilometers (three miles), I kept stepping on dead bodies until I reached Malam Karanti village, which was also deserted and burnt," said Yanaye Grema, a surviving fisherman, to The Telegraph.

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The Boko Haram fighters now have taken control over 11 local government areas with a total population of more than 1.7 million people, according to The Telegraph.

"The Nigerian army, crippled by corruption and incompetence, has shown itself unable to resist the jihadist advance," stated The Telegraph.

Large amounts of money has been given to the Nigerian army to help fight against Boko Haram, but the front line still suffers and has weak weaponry compared to Boko Haram. The senior officers are intercepting all funding.

The town of Gwoza in Borno state has become the unofficial headquarters for Boko Haram. There they are shielded from attacks because of the volcanic peaks of Mandara Mountains and the surrounding area is Shekau's ethnic group, the Kanuri.

Boko Haram fighters are sent from their to strike and occasionally grab more territory and go on slave raids.

April 2015 marked Boko Haram's most infamous slave raid, when Shekau abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok, triggering the global "bring back our girls" campaign. Shekau sold the girls into slavery.

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Boko Haram has become more than previous "Western education is banned" motives. They are now partly a branch of AL-Qaeda's brand of jihadism. They seize towns, and carry out suicide bombings throughout Nigeria.

Oliver Dashe Doeme, the Roman Catholic Bishop in Maiduguri, said that 70 of the 150 churches in his diocese had been destroyed by Boko Haram. "We have many parishes which have been sacked and overrun," he said in The Telegraph. "Our major concern is not our buildings - it's not the churches themselves - but our people who have been driven away from their homes. Some are living in mountains and forests, some are in Cameroon and some have gone elsewhere in Nigeria."

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