BOKO HARAM'S ATTACKS AND MORE TO COME...... The beginning of violence Timeline, 7 September, 2010 Bauchi prison break December, 2010 December 2010 Abuja attack 22 April, 2011 Boko Haram frees 14 prisoners during a jailbreak in Yola, Adamawa State 29 May, 2011 May 2011 northern Nigeria bombings 17 June, 2011 The group claims responsibility for the 2011 Abuja police headquarters bombing[28] 26 June, 2011 Bombing attack on a beer garden in Maiduguri[29] 10 July, 2011 Bombing at the All Christian Fellowship Church in Suleja, Niger State[30] 11 July, 2011 The University of Maiduguri temperory closes down its campus citing security concerns [31] 12 August, 2011 Prominent Muslim Cleric Liman Bana is shot dead by Boko Haram[32] 26 August, 2011 2011 Abuja bombing [33] 5 November, 2011 2011 Damaturu attacks[34][35] 25 December, 2011 December 2011 Nigeria bombings [36] The group conducted its operations more or less peacefully during the first seven years of its existence[16] That changed in 2009 when the Nigerian government launched an investigation into the group's activities following reports that its members were arming themselves.[37] Prior to that the government reportedly repeatedly ignored warnings about the increasingly militant character of the organisation, including that of a military officer.[37] When the government came into action, several members of the group were arrested in Bauchi, sparking deadly clashes with Nigerian security forces which led to the deaths of an estimated 700 people. During the fighting with the security forces Boko Haram "fighters reportedly "used fuel-laden motorcycles" and "bows with poison arrows" to attack a police station.[38] The group's founder and then leader Mohammed Yusuf was also killed during this time while still in police custody.[39][40][41] After Yusuf's killing, a new leader emerged whose identity is still not known.[42] After the killing of M. Yusuf, the group carried out its first terrorist attack in Borno in January 2010. It resulted in the killing of four people.[43] Since then, the violence has only escalated in terms of both frequency and intensity. Assessment Boko Haram is considered to be a major potential terrorist threat affecting Nigeria and other countries, and US officials believe it is potentially allied with Al Qaeda. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Commander General Carter F. Ham stated in September 2011 that three African terrorist groups - Shabab of Somalia, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb across the Sahel region, and Boko Haram - "have very explicitly and publicly voiced an intent to target Westerners, and the U.S. specifically" and that he was concerned with "the voiced intent of the three organizations to more closely collaborate and synchronize their efforts."[44] General Ham reiterated his concern after the Christmas Day 2011 bombings of churches in Nigeria: "I remain greatly concerned about their stated intent to connect with Al Qaeda senior leadership, most likely through Al Qaeda in the lands of the Islamic Maghreb.”[44] A bipartisan U.S. congressional counterterrorism panel urged the Obama Administration and U.S. intelligence community in November 2011 to focus on Boko Haram as a potential threat to United States territory.[45] Nigeria's National Security Adviser, General Owoye Andrew Azazi, has been working with other African governments, European and Middle Eastern governments, and the U.S. government to build cooperation against Boko Haram. He met in 2010 with then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, and in 2011 with AFRICOM Commander General Ham, and other U.S. officials, and was in the United States when the congressional panel was preparing its report on Boko Haram. He participated in a CIA conference at about the same time.[46] After the Christmas 2011 bombings carried out by Boko Haram, President Barack Obama's office issued a statement that confirmed that the U.S. and Nigeria were cooperating at a senior level against the terrorist group.