Boko Haram’s Twitter account blocked

Social networking website, Twitter, has suspended the account of Boko Haram less than a week after it was opened.

The  Twitter handle, Alurwa Alwuthqa, was registered last week in a manner similar to the Middle East insurgency group, Islamic State (IS).

One of the sect’s first activities on the account was to announce its capture of Monguno and display pictures of child jihadists.

Twitter rules do not condone publishing or direct posting of “specific threats of violence against others”.

The rules also condemn “abuse or harassment”, such as “if the sole purpose of the account is to send abusive messages to others”.

Somalia’s al-Shabaab rebels once had Twitter accounts, but they were suspended after they used the site to claim responsibility for the September 2013 attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya.