Maiduguri, Nigeria - A Nigerian military official says the emergence of a breakaway group within a feared Muslim sect is a sign that the radical sect is weakening.
Joint Security Task Force spokesman Lt. Col. Hassan Mohammed said Wednesday that his officers had seen statements announcing that a faction had split from a sect locally known in Nigeria's restive northeast as Boko Haram.
A group which calls itself the Yusuffiya Islamic Movement says in unverified statements that "people with evil motives have infiltrated our genuine struggle."
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for a rash of killings targeting security officers, local leaders and clerics in the area over the last year.