EU adds Nigeria's Boko Haram to blacklisted terror groups

A screengrab taken on May 12, 2014 from a video released by Boko Haram shows girls being filmed by an unidentified man in an undisclosed rural location. By (Boko Haram/AFP/File)

Brussels (AFP) - The European Union on Monday announced it has imposed sanctions on Nigeria's Boko Haram as an Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group weeks after it kidnapped more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls.

The decision to blacklist the group follows its designation as a terrorist movement two weeks ago by the United Nations.

Boko Haram, whose name translates loosely from the Hausa language spoken widely in northern Nigeria as "Western education is sin, was added to the EU list late last week along with Syria's jihadist Al-Nusra Front for the People of the Levant.

The move subjects Boko Haram and Al-Nusra as well as people or entities supporting them financially or materially to sanctions including an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban.

Boko Haram, which was created 10 years ago, demands the creation of an Islamic state in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria. Its attacks have left thousands dead since 2009.