Islamic State group emerges as a political force in western Africa
(World News USA)

STUTTGART, Germany - Islamic State militants in West Africa are gaining the upper hand, carving out a `proto-state` in northern Nigeria where government forces have been overwhelmed by attacks, U.S. military officials and security analysts say. ISIS-West Africa, which broke away from the militant group Boko Haram three years ago, continues to launch high profile attacks that have placed the Nigerian military `under tremendous strain,` according to Stuttgart-based U.S. Africa Command. Now, the group appears to be building on its battlefield gains in northeast Nigeria and the borderlands in the Lake...