U.S. strikes ISIS targets in Nigeria

President Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. launched military strikes against ISIS forces in Nigeria, alleging the group has been targeting Christians.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

On Christmas Day, the president announced the U.S. military struck ISIS militants in Nigeria. The attacks come a month after President Trump threatened on social media to go into Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, quote, "guns a-blazing" unless it did more to protect Christians, who he continually asserts are being targeted and slaughtered. Nigerian authorities say allegations of Christian genocide are unfounded and that a mishmash of violent armed groups across the country kill as many Muslims as Christians in the country. Joining us now from Nigeria is NPR Africa correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu. Good morning.

EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: Emmanuel, this feels like these strikes kind of came out of nowhere. What can you tell us about them?

AKINWOTU: Well, in a post on Truth Social, President Trump said he ordered, quote, a "deadly strike against ISIS terrorist scum in northwest Nigeria who have been targeting and viciously killing primarily innocent Christians." And he said that this was just the beginning. And the U.S. Africa Command, who are in charge of military operations on the continent - they put it differently. In a statement, they said initially the strikes were requested by the Nigerian government. And then they amended that statement to say it was done in coordination with them. But in any case, this is clearly a really significant intervention and an inflection point in U.S. military involvement in Nigeria. And it also comes with the religious symbolism of launching these strikes on Christmas Day.

FADEL: OK. So the U.S. hasn't really released many details about the strikes. What can you tell us about who they were targeting?

AKINWOTU: Well, the U.S. strikes targeted ISIS militants in northwest Nigeria along the border with Niger. And it's a region where a faction called IS Sahel Province is active. They're known locally as Lukarawa. And they've spread south from the Sahel region in West Africa, and really, they've been a growing threat over the last eight years. And broadly, ISIS has become a major concern in Nigeria. They've become a kind of governing force in rural areas, attacking and enforcing this extreme version of Islam. And they're one actor among several militant groups at large, and they're all behind, really, a worsening security crisis in the country.

But what's curious about this is that President Trump says this ISIS group has targeted Christians. But according to most experts, this group is not one of the main groups accused of killing Christians. And in fact, the biggest security threat in the region are militants known as bandits, who've terrorized local communities made up of Christians and Muslims. But zooming out, a few key questions really are whether these strikes are about defending Christians, as President Trump says, or really about degrading ISIS in the region. And experts I've spoken to question whether airstrikes can even achieve that in a region where armed groups are so deeply entrenched in rural areas and difficult to eliminate from the air.

FADEL: How has the Nigerian government responded to this military operation and, more generally, to this growing pressure from President Trump?

AKINWOTU: Well, the government have been really keen to reframe the way that this is being seen, calling it a joint operation that they approved. But the challenge for the government is that this is not really the impression many people will take from President Trump's post, which announced the attacks hours before any statement from Nigerian government officials. And there are already critics in Nigeria reacting to this who are concerned about whether this is now a new military front for the U.S. going forward, and whether Nigeria's strong enough to shape or curtail U.S. aims in the country.

FADEL: That's Emmanuel Akinwotu reporting from Lagos. Thank you so much for joining us.

AKINWOTU: Thanks, Leila.

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