Boko Haram - we have fighters from Chad, NIger and Cameroun - we are not alone

Extremists from three neighboring
countries are fighting in Nigeria's
northeastern Islamic uprising,
according to an alleged captured
extremist whose account reinforces
fears that one of Africa's most
powerful Islamic militant groups is
growing closer to al-Qaida affiliates
and that radical movements are
spilling across national boundaries.
"We do have members from Chad,
Niger and Cameroon who actively
participate in most of our attacks,"
said a young man presented to
journalists Friday night by Nigeria's
military as a captured fighter of the
Boko Haram terrorist network.
The claim of foreign fighters indicates
the growing influence of Boko Haram,
which started out as a machete-
wielding gang and that now wages
war with armored cars, rocket-
propelled grenades and improvised
explosive devices in its mission to
force all of Nigeria — Africa's largest
oil producer and a country of 160
million that has almost equal
numbers of Christians and Muslims —
to become an Islamic state