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By Jordan King
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A “small” American military unit has arrived in Nigeria to help with its counterterrorism efforts, the Nigerian government has confirmed to Newsweek.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser, Daniel Dwala, told Newsweek that the “small unit of military personnel” went to Nigeria as part of its counterterrorism collaboration with the U.S., "anchored on training and intelligence sharing.” He did not provide any other details.
U.S. Air Force General Dagvin R. M. Anderson mentioned this military team during a United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) briefing on Tuesday.
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He said that he met Tinubu in Rome last December, at the Aqaba Process, “focused specifically on the terrorist threat in West Africa,” where they agreed that “a small U.S. team that brings some unique capabilities” would go to Nigeria to “augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years.”
When Newsweek contacted the Pentagon for comment, it was directed to this briefing.
US Military Strikes in Nigeria
U.S. President Donald Trump’s defense department carried out strikes in Nigeria last Christmas, against what Trump described as “ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.”
The Nigerian government has repeatedly pushed back against the narrative that the violence in the country is targeting Christians, insisting that people of all religions are indiscriminately victims of terrorist groups operating there.
But it has also said several times that it “welcomes American support” to fight terrorism, and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in December that the American strike was part of a joint security mission.
There have been hints at more cooperation between the U.S. and Nigeria since, but this is the first confirmation that America’s military is on the ground there.
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More Than 160 Killed in Nigeria
The revelation about American soldiers in Nigeria comes as one of the deadliest attacks in recent months took place on Tuesday, when suspected jihadist gunmen killed at least 162 people, local lawmaker Mohammed Omar Bio told the Associated Press.
Residents in the Muslim-majority villages of Woro and Nuku, in the state of Kwara, told Reuters that the attackers were jihadists who had long been preaching to locals, urging them to adopt Sharia rule. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks yet.
State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said the attacks were a “cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells” in response to counterterrorism operations in the area.
Nigerian President Tinubu ‘s office said on Thursday that an army battalion has been deployed in the Kaiama district, condemning the attack as “cowardly and barbaric," according to Reuters.
"It is commendable that community members, even though Muslims, refused to be conscripted into a belief that promotes violence over peace," he said in a statement.
Amnesty International Nigeria labeled the day “Nigeria’s Bloody Tuesday,” reporting at least two more attacks on Doma Tafoki, in Katsina State, and Abande, in Benue State.
Are Christians Targeted in Nigeria?
Nigeria's population is about evenly split between Christians and Muslims. It has faced decades of violence with roots not only in religious but also ethnic division, criminality, local politics, poverty and battles over land between farmers and herders that have been exacerbated by shifts in the climate.
There are conflicting statistics about how many Christians have been killed in Nigeria, and how many of those died as a result of their faith. Christian advocacy organization Open Doors lists Nigeria as the seventh most dangerous place for Christians on its World Watch list, reporting that "more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined."
Newsweek previously reported on what local Christian organizations have said about the situation there.
The position of the Trump administration is that Christians are persecuted there. It designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom violations, and Trump has explicitly accused the Nigerian government of "allowing the killing of Christians" in a Truth Social post last November.
U.S. Representative Riley Moore, a Republican from West Virginia, who has long been at the helm of the efforts in American government to bring attention to the violence in Nigeria, has pointed to examples of Islamic State group fighters telling Christians they could "spare their blood by converting to Islam" during an attack on Timwai village, in Adamawa State, the day after Christmas.
But the Nigerian government has vehemently denied these characterizations, with Alkasim Abdulkadir, special assistant to Nigeria's minister of foreign affairs, telling Newsweek: "Terrorists in Nigeria target anyone who stands in their way, Christian or Muslim. It is inaccurate to claim or insist that ISWAP/Boko Haram targets Christians only. The evidence suggests otherwise, it shows they attack both Christian and Muslim communities alike. Their objective is to intimidate the entire population and undermine Nigeria's constitutional order.”
The situation is often different for separate parts of the country, which has a predominantly Muslim North, a Christian South and a Middle Belt where much of the violence takes place.
The country has been struggling with a surge in jihadist violence since 2009, which marked the start of Boko Haram's insurgency to establish a caliphate in Nigeria and the broader Sahel region. The groups that carry out this violence include Fulani militants, Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, according to Open Doors and several other NGOs.
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