U.S. Airstrike Targets Nigerian Village With No Known ISIS Presence, Sparking Confusion
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, a U.S. airstrike targeted a rural village in Nigeria’s Sokoto State, despite local officials confirming the area has no known ISIS presence. The missile landed dangerously close to the village’s only medical facility, sending terrified residents fleeing.
Suleiman Kagara, a resident of the predominantly Muslim farming community in Tambuwal, told CNN he heard a loud explosion around 10 p.m. on Thursday as a projectile passed overhead before crashing and detonating nearby.
Bashar Isa Jabo, Tambuwal’s representative in the state parliament, described Jabbo village as “a peaceful community” with “no known record of ISIS or any other terrorist group operating in this area.”
The strike comes after Nigeria’s government reported new U.S. attacks against ISIS positions in the country, specifically in northeastern Borno State. Observers have interpreted such actions as potentially exacerbating religious tensions in Africa’s most populous nation, which has experienced waves of sectarian violence in the past.
Washington’s claims of targeting ISIS terrorists in Nigeria follow former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign admission that previous U.S. administrations had created and supported the terrorist group for their own purposes.
