appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Associated Press

A joint operation by the United States and Nigeria against Islamic State fighters has killed 175 over the past few days, Nigeria’s military said on Tuesday, while the head of the US Africa Command said it showed the capabilities its forces could bring in Africa, home to the “epicentre of global terrorism”.
The US sent troops to Nigeria in February in what was deemed a mostly advisory and training role, but the joint operation signals more active involvement. The US Africa Command, or AFRICOM, confirmed the joint operation, saying no US or Nigerian troops were harmed.
The gains against Isis militants followed the killing last week of the deputy of the group’s West Africa chapter, Abu Bakr al-Mainuki, the first successful targeting of a senior militant in more than a decade of insurgency in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s military on Tuesday reported the killing of another senior leader, Abd-al Wahhab, who it said was responsible for coordinating finance and attack planning and logistics.
Nigerian military spokesperson Samaila Uba said the strikes also destroyed weapons, checkpoints and financial networks of the militants across the country’s northeast.
Militant groups like Boko Haram and its Isis splinter group operate across vast areas in addition to numerous criminal groups specialising in kidnapping for ransom, generally called “bandits”. The crisis has killed thousands of people, according to the United Nations.
US Air Force General Dagvin Anderson, who oversees AFRICOM, told a congressional hearing on Tuesday that Nigeria played a pivotal role in the weekend operations.
“The Nigerians have been instrumental throughout the last several months, developing the target, helping us with the intelligence and providing support in order to do that,” Anderson said. “So it could not have been done by our own forces.”
Isis has been pivoting to Africa after setbacks in the Middle East, with West Africa becoming a major site of operation, according to the crisis monitoring group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
The “epicenter of global terrorism is in Africa,” Anderson said, adding that the operations with Nigeria underscored the relationships that US forces were building on the continent to protect American security interests.
“We cannot operate there and respond to these crises or these threats without the access, basing and overflight that is dependent upon the relationships with these partners,” Anderson said. “So we are investing a significant amount of effort in order to build those relationships and build that credibility.”
Asked about the biggest challenges to that effort, Anderson replied that “the biggest concern I have is the growing black hole of intelligence in the Sahel” because of the withdrawal of French and other partners and the US withdrawal from Niger.
The military governments of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have turned to Russia as a security partner instead.


Methanol-tainted Nigeria drink kills 48, 182 made ill: government

Somali piracy rise tests China’s long-running Gulf of Aden mission

Is Africa becoming a ‘testing ground’ for Chinese power projection?

Digital Silk Road: Hong Kong acts as financial bridge between China and MENA

Africa

Joint Nigeria-US strikes kill 175 Isis fighters

Nigerian soldiers and armoured vehicles in Borno state, Nigeria in 2025. Photo: Reuters

US, Nigeria carry out more strikes on IS, at least 20 militants dead

A soldier takes photos of burned motorbikes in Guyaku, northeastern Nigeria, in late April, following an attack by IS militants. The years-long insurgency in the country has seen thousands killed. Photo: via AP

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said Nigerian forces are working closely with the US military to tackle IS militants. File photo: AP

Residents in Offa in Nigeria’s Kwara State inspect the damage after US forces launched a strike against Islamic State militants, at the request of Nigeria’s government, in December. Photo: Reuters

Trump says Isis second in command Abu-Bilal ‘eliminated from battlefield’

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press aboard Air Force One en route to the US following his official visit with President Xi Jinping in China on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Nigerian soldiers walk past military tanks prepared for deployment in Maiduguri, Borno, on November 7, 2025. Photo: Reuters

Chadian soldiers board a Multinational Joint Task Force boat at a military base in Lake Chad Province on May 6. Chad has served as a linchpin partner in intelligence sharing and regional defence among the West African bloc fighting Isis group affiliates. Photo: AFP

Vigilantes in Nigeria kill herders amid jihadist tensions, kidnapping gangs

Soldiers carry a coffin during the funeral of Brigadier General Oseni Omoh Braimah and other troops killed by foreign jihadists, in Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria, on April 15. Photo: AFP

A general view of coffins during the funeral of Brigadier General Oseni Omoh Braimah and other troops killed in jihadist attacks, in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, on April 15. Photo: AFP

An armoured Police vehicle at a market in Maiduguri, Nigeria on March 17, a day after explosions rocked the city amid renewed conflict between armed jihadists, kidnapping gangs and nomadic herders and farmers. Photo: AFP

News

World

Following the death of a regional deputy, joint operations claim another top strategist responsible for planning and logistics


Following the death of a regional deputy, joint operations claim another top strategist responsible for planning and logistics.


Joint Nigeria-US strikes kill 175 Isis fighters

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Following the death of a regional deputy, joint operations claim another top strategist responsible for planning and logistics

Following the death of a regional deputy, joint operations claim another top strategist responsible for planning and logistics