A senior counterterrorism official in the administration of United States President Donald Trump has claimed that US forces killed 199 jihadists during a major operation in Nigeria, describing it as the largest single neutralisation of terrorists since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, made the disclosure during an interview with PragerU CEO Marissa Streit, which aired on June 24.
Speaking about the administration’s counterterrorism strategy, Gorka said President Trump was focused on eliminating terrorist threats rather than engaging in nation-building.
“The president is not nation-building; he’s not going around the world like some lunatic neocon saying, ‘we will turn the world into America,’” Gorka said.
He went on to claim that US forces recently carried out a successful counterterrorism mission in Nigeria, which he monitored live from the White House Situation Room.
“But if you’re threatening Americans, or if you’re targeting Christians because they’re Christians, he has a very strong message to send to you, whether it was his Christmas Day strike or, three weeks ago, what we did in Nigeria.
“Three weeks ago in Nigeria, and I watched it live from the Situation Room. It was like being in a Tom Clancy movie, but it’s better because it’s real. I watched our operatives kill 199 jihadists in one operation,” he said.
According to Gorka, the operation marked the largest number of enemy fighters neutralised in a single mission since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“That is the biggest neutralisation of enemy killed in action since September the 11th. One hundred and ninety-nine jihadists who will not harm Americans again,” he added.
He also claimed that the operation yielded a significant intelligence breakthrough, saying US forces recovered a massive cache of electronic devices and communication equipment from the terrorist camps.
“From that raid we brought home, we needed an extra plane to bring home all the electronic material that we captured in those camps.
“The haul was three times bigger than any enemy electronics haul since 9/11. That is priceless because now our experts are taking apart all of that information, looking at how ISIS is communicating with each other. We are so back in the game of counterterrorism,” Gorka said.
However, he did not identify the exact location of the operation or specify which terrorist group was targeted.
As of the time of filing this report, neither the United States government nor the Nigerian military has officially released details confirming an operation matching Gorka’s description.
The alleged mission is believed to be linked to ongoing counterterrorism efforts against ISIS-affiliated groups, including the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), operating in parts of Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad Basin.
Gorka further argued that Africa has become one of the world’s most critical counterterrorism fronts due to the growing activities of extremist organisations exploiting insecurity and regional conflicts, stressing the importance of continued security cooperation between the United States and African countries.
