US withdraws troops from Nigeria after Islamic State mission

Earlier this year, the US said it would deploy about 200 troops to support Nigeria’s counter-insurgency efforts, while stressing that its forces would not take part in ground combat.

Announcing that most of these troops had now left, General Dagvin Anderson, Commander of US Air Forces in Africa, said on Thursday that the operation had been successful and that IS’ leadership in Nigeria had been “significantly degraded”.

IS has radically shifted in recent years, with around 90% of its attacks now taking place in sub-Saharan Africa, analysts say. Its Nigeria-based branch is by far the most active.

Anderson said that the group’s local command structure and its wider global network had both been disrupted by the joint operation, limiting its ability to communicate.

Despite the withdrawal, US military personnel stationed in Nigeria before the Lake Chad Basin operation have remained in the country, military spokesperson Major General Samaila Uba told the BBC.

Nigeria faces multiple security challenges. Along with Islamist militants, banditry and criminal violence plague the country, having spread from the north into parts of central and southern Nigeria.