Shafaq News / The US administration has offered a reward of $ 7 million for anyone who provides information about the leader of the Nigerian "Boko Haram" movement, Abu Bakr Shekau, for his arrest.

In a tweet by the Rewards for Justice Program, the counterterrorism rewards program of the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, said, “The United States Department of State offers a reward up to $7m for information leading to the arrest of the terrorist, Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram."

Shekau took over the leadership of the movement in July 2010, threatened to attack Western interests in Nigeria, and announced his solidarity with “Al Qaeda,” as he threatened the United States and increased the capabilities of the movement under his leadership.

Since 2009, Boko Haram violence has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions in Nigeria.

Since 2015, the organization has launched attacks in Nigeria's neighboring countries, such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Boko Haram, a Nigerian armed group, was founded in January 2002, that calls for strict application of Islamic law in all states of Nigeria, even southern ones with a Christian majority, as announced in March 2015 its affiliation with ISIS.