A piece of a US missile fell just a few meters from the only health clinic in Jabo village, Sokoto state, on Thursday night, leaving people in shock and fear. People in the village said they heard a loud explosion and saw flames in the sky. They had no idea that their community was part of a US operation against ISIS.
Later, President Donald Trump called the operation a “powerful and deadly strike” and a “Christmas present” for ISIS fighters he said had killed Christians in Nigeria. The US Africa Command said that the joint mission with Nigeria was aimed at ISIS camps in Sokoto and that many militants were killed in precise strikes.
Furthermore, People in Jabo say there is no ISIS or Lakurawa presence there and that Christians and Muslims live together in peace. There have been no reports of religious violence in the village. A community leader from Tambuwal said that Jabo was a quiet farming village and that the blast site was about 500 meters from the main health center.
The Nigerian Information Ministry said that President Bola Tinubu gave the go-ahead for the strikes, which were carried out with the US against ISIS hideouts in nearby forest areas. Officials admitted that debris from the munitions fell in Jabo and another state, but they stressed that no civilians were hurt or killed.
The strike comes after Trump warned many times that killings in Nigeria are a major threat to Christians and told the military to get ready for action. Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s foreign minister, said he talked to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, before the mission and made it clear that it was not a religious war but a fight against terrorism.
