Nigerian authorities said U.S.-backed airstrikes destroyed two camps linked to the Islamic State group in the country’s northwest, describing the operation as a coordinated effort to disrupt foreign fighters moving into Nigeria from the Sahel region.
The strikes, carried out Thursday in the Bauni forest of Sokoto State, were authorized by President Bola Tinubu following what the government described as weeks of intelligence collection, surveillance and operational planning. Nigeria’s Ministry of Information said Friday that the attacks were launched from maritime platforms based in the Gulf of Guinea.
President Donald Trump said earlier on his Truth Social platform that U.S. forces conducted the operation at Nigeria’s request, framing the strikes as part of efforts to halt attacks on Christian communities in the region. Trump described the action as “numerous perfect strikes” and signaled that additional operations could follow.
In its statement, the Nigerian government said 16 GPS-guided precision munitions were released using MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, striking camps believed to be used by Islamic State-linked fighters attempting to cross into Nigeria from the Sahel corridor. Officials said intelligence assessments indicated the sites served as planning hubs for large-scale attacks inside Nigeria.
Authorities said no civilian deaths were recorded, though debris from the strikes fell in parts of Sokoto and Kwara states. State officials in Sokoto confirmed the operation and urged residents to remain calm, saying security agencies were working to ensure the safety of surrounding communities.
“The ongoing operations are geared toward securing the state and ensuring the protection of lives and property,” the Sokoto state government said.
The operation highlights deepening security cooperation between Abuja and Washington at a time when militant violence is spreading southward from the Sahel, where extremist groups have expanded amid weak governance and military takeovers in several countries. Joint military actions of this scale remain rare for Nigeria, which has traditionally relied on domestic forces to combat insurgencies.
Nigeria has fought Islamist militants for more than a decade, primarily in the northeast, where Boko Haram and the Islamic State West African Province have waged a prolonged insurgency. Officials say the emergence of foreign fighters in the northwest represents a dangerous evolution of the threat, linking Nigeria’s internal security challenges more closely to regional instability across Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Analysts say the use of advanced U.S. surveillance and strike capabilities suggests Nigerian authorities are seeking to contain the threat before it becomes entrenched. However, they caution that airstrikes alone are unlikely to dismantle militant networks without sustained ground operations, intelligence sharing and measures to protect civilians in border communities.
The Nigerian government reiterated its commitment to countering what it described as transnational extremist networks, saying further action would be taken to prevent fighters from establishing new footholds inside the country.
Reuters
