Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain would support Nigeria in reforming its anti-terrorism security after a string of deadly bombings in Africa’s most populous nation.
Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect, has claimed responsibility for almost daily bombings and shootings in recent months, which have targeted police officers, churches and bars.
Most of the attacks have been around Maiduguri, a city in one of the poorest regions in Nigeria, close to borders with Cameroon, Niger and Chad. More than 150 people have been killed this year in the city of about 1.2 million people, Reuters reports.
But the group, which says it wants a wider application of sharia Islamic law across Nigeria, have begun striking further afield, including a bomb in the car park of national police headquarters in the capital, Abuja, last month.
“We have agreed to today, a significant new partnership on counter-terrorism. Britain will help Nigeria establish the equivalent of our COBR,” Cameron said at a media conference with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in Lagos.
A Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR) is the formation of a crisis response committee in Britain, coordinating the actions of security bodies within the government.
