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Nigerian-Backed U.S. Missile Strikes Hit Terror-Linked Targets

The United States has carried out airstrikes against camps linked to Islamic State-aligned militants in north-western Nigeria's Sokoto state, near the border with Niger, in what Nigerian officials described as a jointly planned operation approved by President Bola Tinubu and based on Nigerian intelligence. Casualty figures remain unconfirmed.

US and Nigerian authorities say multiple militants were killed, with local officials reporting that fighters fled across the border after the strikes. US President Donald Trump described the Christmas Day operation as "deadly" and framed it as targeting extremists attacking Christians, a claim rejected by Nigeria's foreign minister, who stressed the strikes were not religiously motivated and had nothing to do with Christmas.

The operation targeted the Lakurawa group, a smaller IS-linked faction seeking to establish a foothold in north-western Nigeria, an area where authorities say it has recruited youth and imposed harsh controls, even as officials reported no civilian casualties despite debris landing in two communities.

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The State of Sokoto in northwestern Nigeria, bordering on the Niger Republic to the north and west and the Nigerian states of Zamfara to the east,and Kebbi to the south and west.

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