The US carried out “powerful and deadly” strikes on Thursday against Islamic State militants in northwestern Nigeria, US President Donald Trump announced. The attack marked a major escalation in an offensive that Nigeria’s overstretched military has struggled with for years, as it is battling multiple armed groups.
Trump described the militants as “terrorist scum,” accusing the group of “viciously targeting and killing mostly innocent Christians”.
Trump said the US military “executed numerous perfect strikes”, while the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) later said Thursday’s attack was a joint operation, part of an exchange of intelligence and strategic coordination between the two countries.
In November, Trump ordered the US military to prepare for action in Nigeria to counter Islamist militant groups.
The strikes launched by the US are considered crucial help for Nigeria’s security forces, which are often overstretched and outgunned as they fight multiple security crises across different regions.
In states like Sokoto, the military frequently carries out airstrikes targeting militant hideouts and Nigeria has embarked on mass recruitment of security forces.
Cooperation with the Nigerian government
On Friday morning, Nigeria’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the country’s authorities “remain engaged in structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States of America, in addressing the persistent threat of terrorism and violent extremism”.
“This has led to precise attacks on terrorist targets in Nigeria through airstrikes in the Northwest,” the statement added.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu insisted that there is religious tolerance in the country and said security challenges affect people “irrespective of religions and regions.”
Trump has previously designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” due to the “existential threat” it poses to its Christian population. The designation by the United States Secretary of State allows for sanctions against countries “engaged in serious violations of religious freedom”.
Nigeria’s security crisis impacts both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who form the majority in the north, according to residents and security analysts.
Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa have wreaked havoc in northeastern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands of people, yet most of them were Muslims, according to Acled, a group that analyses political violence around the world.
The armed groups operating in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, include at least two organisations linked to the Islamic State: the Islamic State of West Africa, an offshoot of Boko Haram that operates mainly in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State’s Shahel Province (ISSP), known locally as Lakurawa, with a strong presence in the northwest.
US and Nigerian authorities did not specify which organisation had been targeted.
Nigeria’s insecurity rooted in social issues
Analysts stress that the security crisis in Nigeria is more a governance problem than a purely military one.
The motives for attacks vary, but armed groups often take advantage of the absence of state and security forces from remote areas, making recruitment easier. Evidence shows that these areas are among some of those with the highest levels of poverty, hunger and unemployment in the country.
Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has previously stated that military action covers only 30 per cent of what is needed to fix the country’s security crisis, while the remaining 70 per cent depends on good governance.
“The absence of the state in remote communities is making it easy for non-state actors to come in and present themselves to the people as the best alternative government,” said Samuel.