The UK on Monday moved to add IS in the Greater Sahara and Boko Haram to its list of terrorist organisations.

Boko Haram, led by Abubakar Shekau, was was formed in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf and has committed many terrorist attacks in Nigeria.

The Greater Sahara group was formed in May 2015 by Adnan Abu Walid Al Sahraoui and has launched terror attacks in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

The financial sanctions, announced by the British Treasury, mean the two groups will have their assets being frozen, and are subject to travel bans and arms embargoes.

The assets freeze will apply from 11.59pm GMT on March 24, the Treasury said.

On Sunday, the UN added the two groups to its sanctions list.

On Monday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered his troops to pursue Boko Haram militants for attacks in the country.

On February 11, militants killed 30 people and abducted women and children in Nigeria’s north-east Borno state.

The decade-long insurgency has killed 36,000 people and displaced about 2 million from their homes in north-east Nigeria.

The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, leading to the creation of a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.