The US military has sent MQ-9 Reaper drones to Nigeria, a US defense official told The Associated Press, as fears grow of a renewed insurgency by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
The drones were deployed after 200 US troops arrived in Nigeria last month to provide training and intelligence. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is struggling with… complex security crisis, especially in the north of the country.
A spokesperson for AFRICOM, the US Africa Command, told the AP that US forces are “working alongside their Nigerian counterparts to provide intelligence support, advisory assistance and targeted training in support of the Nigerian Armed Forces.”
Among the most prominent Islamist militant groups operating in Nigeria are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, which has ties to Islamic State and is known as the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP.
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A U.S. military MQ-9 Reaper drone approaches for landing at Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on December 29, 2025. (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP via Getty Images)
There is also the ISIS-linked Lakurawa, as well as other ‘bandit’ groups that specialize in kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining.
The American troops and the MQ-9 drones are based at Bauchi Airfield, a newly built airport in the northeast of the country, the spokesperson told the AP. The number of drones deployed remains unclear.
The deployment is part of a new security partnership agreed after President Donald Trump raised the alarm over the slaughter of Christians during Nigeria’s security crisis.
The US launched attacks on IS forces on December 26 – the day after Christmas.
Earlier this month, three suspected suicide bombings killed at least 23 people and injured 108 others in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in northeastern Nigeria. No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion quickly fell on Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 to enforce Sharia law.
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Residents and a motorcyclist move among destroyed structures in Offa on December 27, 2025, caused by debris from spent ammunition fallen in US attacks on unspecified militants linked to the Islamic State group in Nigeria. (Abiodun Jamiu/AFP via Getty Images)
MQ-9 drones cost about $30 million each and have separate land and sea models. They can also be used to conduct airstrikes, but AFRICOM says they will only be used in Nigeria for intelligence gathering and training.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says Boko Haram aims to “overthrow the current Nigerian government and replace it with a regime based on Islamic law.”
A police officer walks among protesters as civil society groups and the Nigeria Labor Congress hold a peaceful protest against insecurity in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria on December 17, 2025. (Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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“The U.S. Department of State designated Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization in November 2013,” it added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
