{"id":199883,"date":"2026-05-19T20:33:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria"},"modified":"2026-05-20T01:29:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T00:29:47","slug":"us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria","title":{"rendered":"US Expands Military Operations in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong> <\/span>The U.S. Africa Command announced airstrikes targeting ISIS affiliates in northeastern Nigeria as part of an intensified military effort to contain armed groups.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian Defense Command reported that the recent U.S. airstrikes were conducted in the Metili area of Borno State, based on intelligence indicating the presence of fighters there.<\/p>\n<p>Nigerian authorities stated, &#8220;These were precise ground-air operations, meticulously planned and highly complex,&#8221; clarifying that no Americans were deployed on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the Nigerian Foreign Ministry noted, &#8220;The Americans provided intelligence information.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Multiple airstrikes resulted in the deaths of over 20 ISIS militants in West Africa, according to a Nigerian military statement. AFRICOM confirmed that no U.S. or Nigerian personnel were injured in the operation.<\/p>\n<p>The strikes on Sunday followed a U.S. operation that included airstrikes and ground action, resulting in the death of Abu Bilal al-Minki, described by both governments as the second-in-command of ISIS globally.<\/p>\n<p>Since ISIS has faced significant setbacks in the Middle East, it has shifted its focus to Africa, which accounted for 86% of its global activity in the first three months of 2026, according to the Armed Conflict Location &amp; Event Data Project (ACLED).<\/p>\n<p>Northeastern Nigeria is the main base for the largest ISIS factions, namely ISIS West Africa (ISWAP), but other branches are active in the Sahel, as well as in Somalia, Mozambique, and the Congo.<\/p>\n<p>Al-Minki was a regional leader in ISIS, overseeing the Al-Furqan office, which manages global affairs, including coordinating funding.<\/p>\n<p>Colin Smith, coordinator of the UN team monitoring Al-Qaeda and ISIS, stated, &#8220;This is a significant blow to ISIS and their plan to shift focus to Africa. They will find it difficult to find a replacement for him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>U.S. President Donald Trump and Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu described the killing of al-Minki, a Nigerian citizen, as a major setback for the armed group. Trump, who had previously criticized Nigeria over security issues, thanked the Nigerian government for its cooperation.<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian military announced that the recent operations are part of ongoing efforts to dismantle rebel networks, remove fighters from the battlefield, and prevent them from finding safe havens.<\/p>\n<p>Borno State has suffered from a 17-year insurgency led by Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa, resulting in thousands of deaths and the displacement of around two million people.<\/p>\n<p>Last December, the U.S. military, in coordination with Nigerian authorities, conducted airstrikes against ISIS elements in Sokoto State, ostensibly to support Christians in Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Nigeria<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The U.S. Africa Command announced airstrikes targeting ISIS affiliates in northeastern Nigeria as part of an intensified military effort to contain armed groups. The Nigerian Defense Command reported that the recent U.S. airstrikes were conducted in the Metili area of Borno State, based on intelligence indicating the presence of fighters there. Nigerian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":199882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,29,14],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-199883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Expands Military Operations in Nigeria - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The U.S. Africa Command announced airstrikes targeting ISIS affiliates in northeastern Nigeria as part of an intensified\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Expands Military Operations in Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S. Africa Command announced airstrikes targeting ISIS affiliates in northeastern Nigeria as part of an intensified\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-19T19:33:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-20T00:29:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/sm_1779236542.997239.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"US Expands Military Operations in Nigeria\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T19:33:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-20T00:29:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria\"},\"wordCount\":431,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/05\/sm_1779236542.997239.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/us-expands-military-operations-in-nigeria\",\"name\":\"US Expands Military Operations in Nigeria - 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