A First Suicide Attack by Nigeria's Boko Haram

Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a suicide attack June 16 that targeted police headquarters in Abuja with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. Boko Haram's first-ever suicide attack demonstrates heretofore unseen capabilities by the group, which indicates it may have received training from transnational jihadists such as al Shabaab or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The Nigerian government had already committed to escalating a security crackdown against Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, and the June 16 attack will only intensify such efforts.