U.S. airstrikes carried out on Thursday in Nigeria targeted fighters from the Islamic State (IS) who had arrived from the Sahel to support the local jihadist group Lakurawa and criminal gangs, a spokesperson for Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said.
“IS has found a way to transit through the Sahel to come and assist the Lakurawa and the bandits by providing them with equipment and training,” said Daniel Bwala, presidential spokesperson. Until now, Washington and Abuja had only referred broadly to IS-linked targets, without specifying the groups involved.
Islamic State, affiliated factions are active in several Sahelian countries neighboring Nigeria, notably Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, where they are waging a deadly insurgency against state authorities. While Nigeria has been facing its own jihadist insurgency for more than a decade, the possible establishment of fighters coming from the Sahel has raised serious concerns among analysts.
According to Daniel Bwala, the strike targeted an area historically known to host both armed bandits and the Lakurawa. “U.S. intelligence also indicates a massive movement of IS members from the Sahel into this region,” he added.
Researchers have recently established links between some members of the Lakurawa, the main jihadist group in Sokoto State, and the Sahelian branch of the Islamic State. However, in this northwestern region of Nigeria, the primary security threat remains that posed by local criminal gangs driven by financial gain.
According to analysts, these gangs sometimes cooperate with jihadist groups, particularly for logistical or tactical reasons.
On Friday, Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, said the strikes hit “two major IS terrorist enclaves” in the Tangaza district of Sokoto State.
The operations come amid strained diplomatic relations between Abuja and Washington, following accusations made in the autumn by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.