What you should know about US airstrikes in Nigeria

Five were killed in earlier attack on Mosque

While Washington’s overnight attack on IS targets in Nigeria are, it said, a defence of Christians in the country, Muslims have suffered a security crisis as well.

Just two days ago, at least five worshippers were killed and 35 others injured when a suspected suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s Borno state, in the northeast.

Police said it happened during evening prayers, while no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamist insurgents Boko Haram and its ISWAP faction (see 7.39 for more on them) have waged a 15-year campaign of violence targeting civilians, mosques and markets in the northeast.

Witnesses at al Adum mosque described scenes of panic as victims were rushed to hospital.

Last August, gunmen attacked a mosque and nearby homes in the northwestern state of Katsina, killing at least 50, according to local officials and residents.

For context: Nigeria is a country of more than 200 million people, which is divided between the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south.

An Islamist insurgency has dragged on for over 15 years and is largely confined to the northeast of the country, which is majority Muslim.

While Christians have been killed, most of the victims have been Muslims, analysts say.

Mapped: Where were the strikes in Nigeria?

The US said its attacks targeted IS militants in the northwest, in a state called Sokoto.

This is where – as we outlined at 7.39 – the IS-affiliated Lakurawa operates.

Possible targets of US strikes torment the villages that invited them to provide security

The US has not said exactly which group it targeted overnight, with Donald Trump only saying they went after “ISIS terrorist scum”.

But security analysts have posited the likely target was members of Lakurawa.

This group is prominent in the northwest, where the strikes happened.

Multiple analysts say Lakurawa has been active there since around 2017, when it was invited by traditional authorities in Sokoto state to protect their communities from bandits.

According to James Barnett, an Africa researcher with the Washington-based Hudson Institute, the militants “overstayed their welcome, clashing with some of the community leaders… and enforcing a harsh interpretation of sharia law that alienated much of the rural population”.

Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher with Good Governance Africa, said communities now “openly say that Lakurawa are more oppressive and dangerous than the bandits they claim to protect them from”. 

He added Lakurawa controls territories in Sokoto and Kebbi states, and has become known for killings, kidnapping, rape and armed robbery.