What To Know About The Militants Targeted By U.S. Airstrikes In Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — US airstrikes Thursday’s attack targeting Islamic State group militants in northwestern Nigeria marked a major escalation in the offensive that West Africa’s overstretched military has been fighting for years.

US President Donald Trump said on social media that the “powerful and deadly” attacks in Sokoto state were carried out against ISIS gunmen who were “primarily targeting and brutally killing innocent Christians”. Area residents and security analysts say: Nigeria’s security crisis affects both the majority Christians in the south and the majority Muslims in the north.

Nigeria is combating multiple armed groupsHe said the US attacks were part of intelligence exchange and strategic coordination between the two countries.

The Associated Press was unable to confirm the extent of the strike’s impact. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the following in his post on X about the air strikes: “More to come…”

Armed groups Africa’s most populous country includes at least two ISIS loyalists, an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), locally known as Lakurawa, which is prominent in the northwest.

Although officials did not say exactly which group was targeted, security analysts said the target, if it was against ISIS militants, was likely Lakurawa members, who have become more lethal in border states such as Sokoto and Kebbi in the past year, often targeting remote communities and security forces.

The Nigerian military has said in the past that the group has roots in neighboring Niger and has become more active in Nigeria’s border communities. 2023 military coup. That coup gave results broken relationships The conflict between Nigeria and Niger has affected multinational military operations along the porous border.

Multiple analysts have said Lakurawa has been operating in northwestern Nigeria since 2017, when he was invited by traditional authorities in Sokoto to protect their communities from bandit groups.

But the militants “overstayed their welcome by clashing with some community leaders… and imposing a harsh interpretation of sharia law that alienated much of the rural population,” according to James Barnett, an Africa researcher at the Washington-based Hudson Institute.

According to Nigerian security researcher Malik Samuel of Good Governance Africa, “Communities are now openly saying that Lakurawa are more oppressive and dangerous than the bandits they claim to protect them from.”

Samuel said Lakurawa controls areas in Sokoto and Kebbi states and is known for murders, kidnappings, rape and armed robbery.

But some of the attacks attributed to Lakurawa are carried out by the Islamic State Sahel Province, which has expanded from Niger’s Dosso region into northwestern Nigeria, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

“ISSP has maintained a low profile by working covertly to infiltrate and establish itself along the Niger-Nigeria border and is now expanding its operations towards the Beninese border,” the project said in a recently published report.

Security problems are management problems rather than military problems.

The reasons for the attacks vary, but gangs generally thrive on the near-absence of state and security presence in conflict hotspots, making it easier to recruit. Data shows that these hotspots harbor the highest levels of poverty, hunger and unemployment in the country.

Nigerian Defense Minister Christopher Musa once said that military action represents only 30% of what is needed to solve the country’s security crisis, with the remaining 70% dependent on good governance.

“The absence of the state in remote communities makes it easy for non-state actors to come in and present themselves to the public as the best alternative government,” Samuel said.

Thursday’s U.S. strikes are widely seen by experts as a vital aid to Nigeria’s security forces, which are often overstretched and outgunned as they grapple with multiple security crises in different regions.

In states such as Sokoto, the military frequently launches airstrikes targeting militant hideouts, and Nigeria has also begun such attacks. mass deployment of security forces. But analysts say military operations targeting gangs are often discontinued and militants easily move to new areas on motorcycles through vast forests that connect many northern states.

They also often use hostages. including school children – It acts as cover, making air attacks difficult.