Senior figures According to Tuesday’s military statement, the operations in the past few days have killed other key IS group figures. They include Abd-al Wahhab, said to be a “senior leader” of ISWAP, “responsible for coordinating attacks and distributing propaganda”. Abu Musa al-Mangawi was said to be a high-ranking ISWAP member while Abu al-Muthanna al-Muhajir was a “senior media production team manager and close confidant to al-Minuki”. “Several key ISIS leaders” were killed, according to Anderson. Boko Haram and ISWAP have recently stepped up reported
attacks on villages, police stations and workers such as loggers and fishermen, as well as military bases, causing the deaths of several civilians and senior army officers. Read moreMilitary air strikes kill dozens of people in northeast Nigeria, Amnesty International says The upsurge in attacks prompted Tinubu to declare a nationwide state of emergency in 2025 and the US president to threaten Nigeria with military intervention. Trump has claimed that Christians in Nigeria were being “persecuted” and victims of a “genocide” carried out by “terrorists”.
The government in Abuja and most experts reject the claim, and point out that the violence generally affects Christians and Muslims without distinction. The US military, in coordination with the Nigerian authorities, carried out air strikes on December 25 last year in the northwestern state of Sokoto, targeting what Washington called jihadists. Northern Nigeria has been grappling with violence from criminal gangs known locally as bandits, who frequently carry out attacks on villages and mass kidnappings for ransom. (FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
Nigeria US strikes, Islamic State group, ISWAP, Boko Haram, Sokoto, Tinubu state of emergency 2025, Trump genocide claim, bandits kidnappings