The Beginning of Boko Haram's End

Nigerian forces are gaining ground.

It seems Boko Haram has finally made too many enemies. In its fight to establish an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria, the group has become ever bolder in its tactics, carrying out cross-border attacks in several West African and Sahel countries. As a result, a unified force from Nigeria and four surrounding nations are vehemently pursuing Boko Haram, attempting to regain lost territory and eradicate the extremists.

Boko Haram, whose name loosely translates to "Western education is forbidden," has been terrorizing Nigeria's northeastern states of Borno and Yobe since the war began in 2009. Officials estimate that Boko Haram has killed over 12,000 people over the course of the six-year conflict. For most of this time, the battle against the group was contained to northeastern Nigeria, although a few battles trickled over intrastate borders. But since the beginning of 2015, Boko Haram leadership has weakened its position by unnecessarily taunting neighboring countries. In February, Boko Haram militants carried out a series of attacks on neighboring nations, forcing these governments to unite with Nigeria and join the fray against the Islamic extremists.

The first attack, which took place on February 4, began when Boko Haram troops assaulted theCameroon border village of Fotokol. Militants burned churches and mosques and killed innocents indiscriminately. When all was said and done, about 90 civilians had been killed. Just a few days later, the group launched an attack against the Niger border town of Bosso, at that time a haven for many Nigerian refugees. Although the Nigerian military repelled the fighters, killing over 100 militants, the provocation had commenced. A week after their defeat in Niger, a group of Boko Haram soldiers crossed Lake Chad and stormed the Chadian town of Ngouboua. Before being repelled, this time by Chadian soldiers, rebels managed to torch over two-thirds of the homes in the town.

Boko Haram gained global notoriety in April 2014 by kidnapping 276 girls from a school in the town of Chibok. Outrage across the globe sparked the #BringBackOurGirls online campaign. While the majority of the girls have yet to be rescued over a year later, the kidnapping helped drive attention to the six-year conflict and seems to have streamlined offensive efforts by the African Union-sanctioned coalition.

This is not the only atrocity carried out by Boko Haram. The group has been accused of such human rights abuses as using rape as weapon of war with the specific goal of impregnating women to produce Islamic descendants. There have also been reports of summary executions of men and boys in front of their families and burning people alive.

Now all of these atrocities and aggressions have come to a head. Although a loose coalition was established in January between Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, the three more recent separate provocations forced the nations to unite rapidly and take the fight to Boko Haram and itsstrongholds. Nigeria also elected a new president, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in March, to replace incumbent Goodluck Jonathan. Buhari is expected to be a more effective leader for Nigeria in its ongoing fight against Islamic extremism. Jonathan had been highly criticized for not doing enough to stop Boko Haram and their terror tactics.

In early March, troops from Chad and Niger seized the Nigerian towns of Malam Fatouri and Damasak, killing about 300 militants in an area previously held by Boko Haram. A push in April and May by the Nigerian military in the Sambisa forest – thought to be one of the last Boko Haram strongholds – sent militia members fleeing as the Nigerian Air Force carried out a bombardment of the area. The Nigerian military liberated over 700 women and children in the area.

The latest series of victories does not necessarily mean the end for Boko Haram – the group is still thought to maintain a stronghold in the Mandara Mountains on the poorly guarded Nigeria-Cameroon border. Nevertheless, the coalition's recent success is still bad news for Boko Haram, who held the upper hand for much of the war.

Ultimately, this war may drag on for many more years, but history will show that blunders by Boko Haram in early 2015 sparked the beginning of the end for the Islamic extremist group. For the sake of the innocent people in northeastern Nigeria and the surrounding nation, here's hoping that the end comes sooner rather than later.