Photo: AFP
The U.S. carried out airstrikes in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas night, an operation President Donald Trump described as a “Christmas present” for terrorists, per CNN.
Residents of Jabo, a farming community in Tambuwal district of Sokoto state, said part of a projectile from the strike crashed into a field roughly 500 meters from the village’s only Primary Health Center on Thursday (December 25). There were no casualties, but villagers fled their homes in panic.
Suleiman Kagara, a local resident, told CNN he heard a loud explosion around 10 p.m. and saw flames overhead before the object struck the ground.
“We couldn’t sleep last night,” Kagara said. “We’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Trump later announced that the U.S. had conducted a “powerful and deadly strike” against ISIS militants in the region, accusing them of “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even centuries!”
US Africa Command said the operation “neutralized multiple ISIS militants.”
However, villagers and local officials questioned the justification for the strike’s proximity to Jabo. While parts of Sokoto state face attacks by armed groups, residents said Jabo is a peaceful community with no known terrorist presence.
“In Jabo, we see Christians as our brothers. We don’t have religious conflicts, so we weren’t expecting this,” Kagara said.
Bashar Isah Jabo, a lawmaker representing Tambuwal, said the village has “no known history of ISIS, Lakurawa, or any other terrorist groups operating in the area,” adding that the incident caused “fear and panic within the community.”
Nigeria’s Information Ministry confirmed that the US, working with Nigerian authorities, conducted “precision strike operations” targeting ISIS hideouts in forests in the Tangaza district of Sokoto. It acknowledged that debris from the operation fell in Jabo, but said there were no civilian casualties.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told CNN he had spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio before the strike and said President Bola Tinubu had authorized the operation. Tuggar said the move wasn't religiously motivated but aimed at protecting civilians.
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