Ansaru

Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa[1] (Ansaru)
جماعة أنصار المسلمين في بلاد السودان Jamāʿatu Anṣāril Muslimīna fī Bilādis Sūdān
Leaders	Abubakar Adam Kambar ("Abu Yasir") †[2] Khalid Barnawi ("Abu Usamatal Ansari") (POW)[2][3] Abu Jafa'ar (spokesman)[4]
Dates of operation	c. 2009–2012 (as Boko Haram faction)[2] 2012–present (officially;[2] mostly inactive since 2015)[5]
Active regions	Northern Nigeria
Ideology	Islamic fundamentalist Jihadism[6]
Size	2,000–3,000 (2013)[7]
Part of	Boko Haram (2009–2012) Al-Qaeda (covertly)[8][9][10]
Allies	Boko Haram Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Al-Shabaab
Opponents	Nigeria  Mali  Turkey Western world
Battles and wars	Boko Haram insurgency Northern Mali conflict (suspected)[11]
Designated as a terrorist group by	see section

The Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa (Arabic: جماعة أنصار المسلمين في بلاد السودان Jamāʿatu Anṣāril Muslimīna fī Bilādis Sūdān),^[12] better known as Ansaru and less commonly called al-Qaeda in the Lands Beyond the Sahel,^[9] is an Islamic fundamentalist Jihadist militant organisation based in the northeast of Nigeria. It originated as a faction of Boko Haram but became officially independent in 2012. Despite this, Ansaru and other Boko Haram factions continued to work closely together until the former increasingly declined and stopped its insurgent activities in 2015. Since then, Ansaru is mostly dormant though its members continue to spread propaganda for their cause.