Questions remain over targeting and impact of US airstrikes on Lakurawa in northwest Nigeria

Two weeks after US airstrikes on Christmas Day in northwest Nigeria, questions persist over which group was targeted and the strikes' impact. The operation, coordinated with Nigeria, targeted an Islamist group known as Lakurawa, which extorts the mainly Muslim local population and enforces a strict version of sharia law.

Very little information has been released by either the US or Nigeria about casualties. The US Africa Command said on 25 December that its "initial assessment is that multiple Isis terrorists were killed", and Donald Trump posted that "ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria" had been hit with "numerous perfect strikes".

Malik Samuel of Good Governance Africa said a Lakurawa member told him about 100 fighters were killed and about 200 missing, with many said to be trying to cross into Niger, but that could not be independently confirmed. Residents near the reported camp in Sokoto state told the BBC that fighters fled on about 15 motorcycles, and missile debris allegedly fell on farmland in Jabo, about 60 miles south, and damaged a hotel 500 miles south, injuring three workers.

Analysts and a Nigerian security consultant quoted in reporting said it is unclear why Lakurawa was targeted, noting the group operates in a rural, almost entirely Muslim area and that much local violence is carried out by armed gangs known as bandits.

Key Topics

World, Lakurawa, Sokoto State, Donald Trump, Us Africa Command, Niger