Social media site Twitter has taken down an account suspected of belonging to members of Boko Haram that has posted pictures of child soldiers armed with heavy weaponry.
The account with the handle @Alurwa Alwuthqa was reportedly created last January 18 where it initially posted a message about the town of Baga, which the militant group captured in a series of raids and mass killings of roughly 2,000 individuals.
Among the posts gave rise to suspicions it was run by Boko Haram was a video link shared by the user featuring Abu Mus'ab Al Barnawi, the group's spokesperson, elaborating on what happened in Baga, according to a report by The Telegraph.
Since its creation, the number of followers increased dramatically within a span of days. It had 4,000 followers by January 25 and before it was shut down by Twitter on Sunday, it already reached 5,000 followers.
The account also boasted of training child soldiers, using photos of children dressed in dark robes and bearing AK-47 assault rifles.
The post, with the caption "Photo of Cubs nation. Generation of conquest and victory, God willing" was picked up by the US State Department to be used in their own post.
The State Department posted the images with a different description – "Amid its massacres of innocents, Boko Haram running training camps for child soldiers."
Aside from Boko Haram updates on Baga, the @Alurwa Alwuthqa account posted the capture of Monguno, another strategic town near Maiduguri, Borno using Arabic language, as well as videos of Boko Haram fighters explaining their motivation for joining the terrorist group.
The Boko Haram is an extremist Islamist movement that seeks the establishment of an Islamic state in Nigeria, but the group is also known to sow terror in neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
Since its establishment in 2009, the organisation has caused the death of tens of thousands of people, including women and children. It has also abducted hundreds of individuals and caused the displacement of countless others.
