Ahead of a joint military assault on insurgency,five US military aircraft and the first batch of United States troops have arrived in north-east region of Nigeria
The New York Times is quoted as saying that a US military aircraft touched down in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, on Thursday night.
Twenty four hours later, three aircraft were visible at the base, with equipment being offloaded from at least one of them.
Brant Philip, a counter-terrorism researcher and expert confirmed that the military aircraft touched down in air force bases across Nigeria’s northern region over the past few days.
Reuters had Tuesday reported that the United States would send 200 troops to Nigeria to train the country’s military, as the West African nation battles insurgents across swathes of its territory.
A US official said the troops would supplement a handful of United States military personnel already on the ground in Nigeria.
The deployment follows increased security partnership between both nations following President Donald Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over Christian genocide claims.
In a post on X, Philip said that in furtherance of the security deal, six US Air Force cargo planes were deployed in West Africa over the past week.
According to him,one aircraft stopped in Ghana, with five proceeding to Nigeria.
He said a sixth aircraft arrived in Nigeria on Saturday and will likely follow the route towards the north-east.
Philip noted that one of the US planes, 1x C-17A, was deployed in the Kainji Airbase, while two others, 3x C-17A and 1x C-130J-30 flew to Maiduguri Airbase in Borno.
“Maiduguri Airbase will likely be the primary base of operations for supporting the Nigerian army against ISWAP,” He added noting that
parts of the deliveries may include at least one or more MQ-9 Reaper drones, attack helicopters and a large number of US troops.
