When people know that they are being targeted and killed for their belief, it does not help much to tell them that they are also being manipulated, because they know that their victimhood is linked to their faith. To understand the manipulation component, they must see more concerted state action directed at destroying the terrorists.
For Boko Haram, targeting Christians for killing has always been a political act aimed at creating divisions within the enemy, which they define to be the secular Nigerian state. They deepen the divide between Christians and Muslims and amplify the hate between them by depicting brutal killings and beheadings in video clips that they distribute widely. The abduction of Christian girls for enslavement, sexual assault or forced conversion to Islam is also part of the same tactic. The strategic objective is to promote a civil war between Christians and Muslims that would create easier conditions for them to build and grow the Caliphate they have always dreamt about.
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