The US Wednesday named Nigeria's Boko Haram and Ansaru as foreign terrorist organisations and slapped sanctions on them.
"Today, the US designated Nigeria-based groups Boko Haram and Ansaru as foreign terrorist organisations and 'Specially Designated Global Terrorists'," Xinhua reported quoting Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama's top advisor on homeland security and counterterrorism, as saying in a statement.
The move entailed immediate sanctions against the two groups, including denied access to US financial institutions, a freezing on their assets in US banks and a ban on doing business with or providing support to them.
Founded in 2001, Boko Haram, a nickname meaning "Western education is forbidden", is an Islamic militant organisation operating in northeastern Nigeria, and has links to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, as the US State Department put it.
Ansaru is a splinter group of Boko Haram.
The Nigerian government has declared a state of emergency in northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.