Nigerian villagers are rattled by US airstrikes
By OPE ADETAYO and TUNDE OMOLEHIN, Associated Press
JABO, Sokoto (AP) — Sanusi Madabo, a 40-year-old farmer from the Nigerian village of Jabo, was getting ready for bed Thursday night when he heard a loud noise that sounded like a plane crashing. He rushed out of his mud house with his wife to see the sky glowing bright red.
The light was bright for hours, Madabo said: “It was almost like broad daylight.” »
He only learned later that he had witnessed a U.S. attack on a suspected Islamic State camp.
US President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that the United States had launched a “powerful and deadly strike” against “Islamic State terrorist scum in northwestern Nigeria.” The Nigerian government has since confirmed that the strike was the result of collaboration with the US government.
Residents of Jabo, a village in Sokoto state in northwestern Nigeria, said in interviews with The Associated Press on Friday that they were gripped by panic and confusion during the airstrikes.
They also said that the village has never experienced a terrorist attack, although attacks occur regularly in neighboring villages.
“As we approached our area, the heat became intense,” recalls Abubakar Sani, who lives a few houses from the explosion site.
“Our rooms started shaking, and then a fire broke out,” he told the AP. “The Nigerian government should take appropriate measures to protect us as citizens. We have never experienced anything like this before.”
The Nigerian military did not respond to an AP request asking how many locations were targeted.
This is a “new phase of an old conflict”
The strikes are the result of a months-long tense diplomatic standoff between the West African country and the United States that has evolved into a new form of cooperation.
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People visit the site of a U.S. airstrike in the northwest, in Jabo, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Tunde Omolehin)
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People visit the site of a U.S. airstrike in the northwest, in Jabo, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Tunde Omolehin)
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The Trump administration claimed that Nigeria was witnessing a Christian genocide, a claim that the Nigerian government rejected and which caused initial tensions.
But Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the strikes were a result of intelligence sharing and strategic coordination between the two governments.
Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s foreign minister, called the airstrikes “a new phase in an old conflict” and said he expected more strikes to follow.
“For us, this is something that has been going on for years,” Tuggar added, referring to attacks that have targeted Christians and Muslims in Nigeria for years.
Bulama Burkati, sub-Saharan Africa security analyst at the Tony Blair Institute, said residents’ fear is compounded by a lack of information.
Residents say there were no casualties and security officers cordoned off the area.
But the Nigerian government has yet to release information on the militants targeted or the death toll after the strike.
“What could help ease the tension is for the U.S. and Nigerian governments to declare who was targeted, what was attacked and what has happened so far,” Burkati said. Such information “is still lacking, and the more opaque governments are, the more panic would increase on the ground, and this is what will exacerbate tensions.”
Foreign fighters operated on in Nigeria
Analysts believe the strikes may have been aimed at the Lakurawa group, a relatively new entrant into Nigeria’s complex security crisis.
The group’s first attack was recorded around 2018 in the northwest region before the Nigerian government officially announced its presence last year. The group’s composition has been documented by security researchers as consisting primarily of foreigners from Africa’s Sahel region.
However, experts say links between the Lakurawa group and Islamic State are unproven. The Islamic State in West Africa, the branch of ISIS in Nigeria, has its strongholds in the northeast of the country, where it is currently embroiled in a power struggle with its parent organization, Boko Haram.
“What could have happened is that, working with the U.S. government, Nigeria identified Lakurawa as a threat and identified the camps belonging to the group,” Burkati said.
Regardless, the local population feels vulnerable.
Aliyu Garba, a traditional leader in the village, told the AP that debris left by the strikes was scattered and residents rushed to the scene before security agents arrived. People have been collecting pieces of metal in hopes of getting precious metal they can trade, and he fears they could be harmed.
The strikes also shook 17-year-old Balira Sa’idu as she prepared to get married.
“I’m supposed to be thinking about my wedding, but right now I’m panicking,” she said. “The strike has changed everything. My family is afraid and I don’t even know if it is safe to continue with the wedding plan in Jabo.”
Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.
