A series of United States-launched airstrikes targeting ISIS militant positions in Sokoto State has left unexploded ordnance scattered across farmland and triggered concern among residents and community leaders, even as both the U.S. and Nigerian governments insist the operations were precise and part of coordinated counter-terrorism efforts.
The precision strikes, carried out in the early hours of December 26, were authorised by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and executed with support from Nigeria’s military, according to statements by the Federal Government and the Ministry of Information and National Orientation. The government said the attacks were aimed at dense pockets of Islamic State operatives infiltrating from the Sahel region, using the Bauni forest axis of Tangaza Local Government Area as staging grounds for planned attacks.
Minister Mohammed Idris said the precision strikes deployed 16 GPS-guided munitions via MQ-9 Reaper drones, targeting two major ISIS enclaves and conducted under Nigeria’s established command structures. He confirmed that no civilian casualties were reported, and debris from expended munitions fell both in Jabo, Sokoto State, and Offa in Kwara State. “The Federal Government reiterates its unwavering resolve to confront, degrade, and eliminate terrorist threats,” Idris added, urging citizens to remain calm.
However, local residents in Sokoto State described a very different experience on the ground. Many villagers reported hearing loud explosions that “shook the whole town,” sowing fear across Jabo and neighbouring rural communities.
Journalists who visited the impact site confirmed that no casualties occurred, and local health facilities reported no patients linked to the strike, with only impact points and debris fragments visible in fields.
The situation also raised alarm after late-night explosions in Offa, Kwara State, where an undetonated explosive device was discovered near a praying ground and a hotel, prompting police to cordon off affected areas. While authorities have not officially linked those blasts to the Sokoto strikes, residents and local officials are investigating possible connections as security agencies monitor developments.
