UN Security Council adds Boko Haram to 1267 sanctions list

The UN Security Council has approved sanctions against Nigeria's Boko Haram after adding the terrorist group to the UN's 1267 sanctions list.

Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations, said that by adding Boko Haram to the 1267 sanctions list, the Security Council has helped to close off important avenues of funding, travel and weapons to Boko Haram and shown global unity against their savage actions.

She further added that imposing sanctions is the latest step in the international community's long-term effort to help Nigeria counter the terrorist threat.

According to CNN, the Nigerian government had asked the UN to make the move as attacks in Africa's most populous nation appeared to be escalating, spreading beyond Boko Haram's hotbed in the rural northeast.

The Islamic Militant group kidnapped 200 girls from a school last month in order to create an exchange deal to free its imprisoned combatants.