The United States has dispatched a “small team” of troops to Nigeria following recent joint security cooperation between both countries.
Dagvin Anderson, the general in charge of US Africa Command (AFRICOM), spoke of the development in a press briefing on Tuesday.
It is the first acknowledgement of US boots on the ground in Nigeria since the Donald Trump presidency launched missile strikes targeting terrorists in Sokoto on Christmas Day.
Anderson said the move followed his meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Rome late last year.
“That has led to increased collaboration between our nations, to include a small U.S. team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years,” Anderson said.
He did not provide further details. It is also unclear when the team arrived in Nigeria.
Weeks ago, Allison Hooker, under-secretary of state, led a US team of eight federal agencies to Abuja for a bilateral working group meeting with Nigerian security officials.
Nuhu Ribadu, national security adviser (NSA), headed the Nigerian delegation.
The meeting was in response to the redesignation of Nigeria as a ‘country of particular concern’ (CPC) by Trump.
Trump had threatened to send troops into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing to wipe out the terrorists killing our Christians”.
On December 25, the US launched air strikes against two terrorist enclaves in Bauni forest in Tangaza LGA, Sokoto state.
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