Unlike Boko Haram, which is largely based in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, Ansaru operated in and around Kano State in north-central Nigeria, the heartland of the Hausa-Fulani peoples. It coordinated its activities with the northern Mali-based al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, and was suspected of having sent some of its fighters to Mali, where they fought in the Northern Mali conflict. Ansaru was probably driven from Mali in course of Operation Serval.