Twitter suspends alleged Boko Haram account

Twitter has suspended an alleged Boko Haram account which was being used to post pictures of child soldiers in training.

According to an article Nigeria Communications Week, the twitter account had gained a large number of followers in a very short time.

“The account, @Alurwa_Alwuthqa, was set up on January 18 as part of what is believed to be a bid to mimic the successful PR and recruitment campaigns of groups like al-Shabaab in Somalia and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” states the article. “Within days, it had gained 4,000 followers and on January 25, announced in Arabic the capture of Monguno, a strategic town close to Maiduguri, the state capital of Borno province and Boko Haram’s birthplace.”

Pictures had also been posted on the account to suggest Boko Haram, which means “Western Education is Sinful”, was actively training child soldiers, a tactic borrowed from conflicts in other parts of Africa. The pictures showed children as young as ten dressed in dark robes, training in military formation and holding AK-47 assault rifles.

“Photo of Cubs nation,” the caption reads. “Generation of conquest and victory, God willing.”

The profile also posted a link to a video interview with Abu Mus’ab Al barnawi, who is said to be the group’s spokesman, in which he discussed the capture of Baga, the village where an estimated 2,000 civilians were killed.

A second video showed an interview with a group of Boko Haram fighters, explaining their motivation.

There has been intense speculation online about whether the account was genuine, since others set up previously have proved to be fake.

However, the suspension of the account by Twitter boosted claims that it was authentic.

The US State Department also lent credibility to the claims by tweeting a photo of the purported child soldiers, writing: “Amid its massacres of innocents, Boko Haram running training camps for child soldiers.”