President Donald Trump disclosed ordering “powerful and deadly” US airstrikes on 25 December targeting Islamic State-linked Lakurawa camps in north-western Nigeria’s Sokoto state bordering Niger, telling Politico he postponed earlier plans as a festive “Christmas present” to surprise militants. Every camp got “decimated” per Trump, contradicting Nigerian officials who stressed long-preplanned joint action using local intelligence with no religious connotation despite the Christmas Day execution late Thursday.
US military initial assessment confirmed “multiple” militant fatalities; Tangaza local official Isa Salihu Bashir detailed camps struck with many fighters killed, others fleeing across the Niger border as patrols observed.
Joint op specifics
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar described non-religious collaborative “precision strike operations” explicitly approved by President Bola Tinubu involving full armed forces participation; debris scattered to Jabo village in Sokoto and distant Offa, Kwara, 600km south, but caused no civilian casualties. Jabo eyewitness Umar Jabo recounted “plane-like flash crashing in fields” in a peaceful, moderate Muslim area free of IS conflict or Christian tensions.
Lakurawa – smaller jihadist faction expanding from northeast Boko Haram/IS fights – settled Tangaza’s remote border villages, recruited youth, imposed strict controls linking to Mali-Niger networks, unlike the main northeast stronghold.
Strategic religious context
Strikes represent the second major US anti-IS push recently, following Syria’s “massive strike” with Jordanian jets, helicopters, and artillery hitting 70+ targets avenging three Americans killed in an ambush. Trump reiterated barring “Radical Islamic Terrorism” prosperity amid prior Nigerian “genocide” accusations against Christians, labeling the country “of particular concern” for religious freedom violations warranting sanctions; November DoD readied Nigeria intervention.
Pentagon video captured ship-launched missile; Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked Nigerian “support & cooperation.” Nigeria, Africa’s 220M evenly split Christian-Muslim nation, sees most jihadist victims Muslim per Acled despite northeast’s decade-long havoc killing thousands.
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