Christmas Day strikes by the United States on northwest Nigeria targeted militants linked to an Islamic State wing largely active in neighboring Niger, a top US Africa Command lieutenant general said.
“The targets were areas that all terrorist groups from the Sahel use as a staging area. The most recent information we received from the Nigerians was it was ISIS Sahel related,” John Brennan said in an interview on the sidelines of a US-Nigeria security meeting last week, referring to the Islamic State Sahel Province group.
Analysts have been worried about ISSP’s spread from the Sahel into coastal west African countries like Nigeria. (AFP)
