The US State Department is to designate Boko Haram, a Nigerian extremist militant group, as a “foreign terrorist organization” on Wednesday.

The US State Department is to designate Boko Haram, a Nigerian extremist militant group, as a “foreign terrorist organization” on Wednesday, according to congressional sources who spoke to Reuters.

The measure makes it illegal for US law enforcement and regulatory agencies to conduct business or financial transactions with the group.

The organization has worked to impose extremist law attributing them to Islam in Nigeria and has known ties to Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP).

Multiple leaders of Boko Haram have been designated as terrorists but Wednesday will mark the first time that the entire organization has been given the title.

The group is thought to have worked against US interests by facilitating an August 2011 attack on a United Nations building in Abuja, Nigeria.