Boko Haram, which wants to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria, has exposed severe weaknesses in Nigerian security forces and heaped political pressure on that country’s President Goodluck Jonathan, who has declared a “full-scale operation” against the group.

High-ranking members of Nigeria’s military met with a Sri Lankan delegation to discuss counterinsurgency tactics, the Nigerian Ministry of Defence said in a statement late on Thursday.

The chief of Nigeria’s defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, said it was “seriously considering” methods employed by Sri Lanka including “total security,” or focusing all of the country’s resources on the military.

Lankan government fought for nearly 30 years against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who wanted to create a separate state.  It crushed the LTTE and killed its entire leadership on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon in 2009.

Special Reporter