The United States launched a powerful wave of Tomahawk missiles against suspected targets Nigeria by a local gang of the terrorist group ISIS which, according to President Donald Trump, is leading to genocide among Christians. But the action caused confusion and controversy among analysts who claim that the situation on the ground is much more complex than the White House chief describes.
Sokoto State, which was hit by more than 12 Tomahawk missiles on Thursday evening, is predominantly populated by Muslimswho bear the brunt of the terrorist attacks there. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto recently stated that there is “no problem of Christian persecution” in the area. And analysts disagree about the existence of links between insurgent groups in Sokoto and ISIS.
It is unclear what the attacks caused immediately, although reports emerged on Friday morning that one of the affected areas was the outskirts of Jabo, a town in Sokoto that analysts say There were no terrorist groups or bandits.
Some experts claim that the violent Sokoto attackers, colloquially known as Lakurawa, have links to the IS affiliate in the Sahel province, which lies further north and west in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
However, other analysts claim that the evidence for such connections is inconclusive since The identity of the Lakurawa group remains very unclear. Its militants have operated in Sokoto and other Nigerian states for years, gaining popularity by first fighting local bandits and then attacking rural populations.
“There is a lot of volatility and few ideological alliances,” Alkasim Abdulkadir, spokesman for Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar, said of the Lakurawa.
While Nigerian authorities have denied Trump’s claims of Christian “genocide,” they have chosen to respond to his threats by cooperating with his administration. Nigeria has seized the opportunity to use American firepower against insurgents who have devastated rural communities in the country’s northwest.
The Nigerian government made it clear on Friday that it supported the airstrikes. This followed a phone call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterpart Tuggar, who forwarded the conversation to Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who authorized the attacks. Nigeria had provided US forces with information about the bombings.
The attacks were aimed at “deterring further bandit operations in the area,” Tuggar’s spokesman said. “Air power is something they cannot fight,” he added.
Shafi’u Aliyu Jabo, 35, from Jabo, described in an interview how he heard an attack in the middle of the night. “We heard a sound like a plane coming from the west of the city and flying east,” he explained. “Then a siren sound was heard, followed by a massive air force that almost blew off the roofs of our houses.”
He said residents, believing a plane had crashed, went to a nearby farm and found ammunition there. A farmer’s hut was set on fire, but no one was injured, he said. He added that he was not aware of any terrorist camps in the area.
Nigeria is a deeply religious nationHome to hundreds of millions of Muslims and Christians, Sokoto State is home to the eponymous Sultan, the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s Muslim population.
Last month, Trump threatened to attack Nigeria or send troops if the government didn’t act quickly to stop what he called a “genocide” against the country’s Christians.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is backed into a corner widespread and complex violence against Muslims and Christians alikeand the Nigerian government has rejected Trump’s description. But he also sent a delegation to Washington, DC, to talk to US officials about security cooperation.
Vincent Foucher, a researcher at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, said the attacks were likely to resonate with some American Christians and Trump’s political allies, who have reinforced the narrative that Christians are being persecuted in Nigeria.
“It’s a good opportunity for the United States, for Trump, to show the American evangelical right that he’s doing something for Nigeria,” Foucher said. For the United States, he added, the attacks were a response to both Trump’s desire for publicity and the American security system’s concerns about the ISIS group.
Residents of Jabo, Nigeria, at the site bombed by the US this Thursday. Photo: AP 
The US attack on ISIS in Nigeria: rockets from the sea and destroyed camps. Photo: Recording
