Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to United States President Donald Trump and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, has claimed that US troops killed 199 jihadists during a single operation in Nigeria. Gorka made the disclosure during an interview with Marissa Streit, chief executive officer of PragerU, a US conservative media organisation, aired on June 24.
Operation Details Remain Unclear
While discussing America’s counterterrorism efforts, Gorka said the operation formed part of President Trump’s approach of responding to threats against Americans and Christians. “I can talk about this because it’s been declassified. 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,’” he said. “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.”
Gorka said he watched the operation from the situation room and described it as a major counterterrorism success. “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 stated.
Possible Link to Previous Operations
It was unclear whether he was referring to the May 15 joint US-Nigeria operation that reportedly killed senior ISIS figure Abu-Bilal al-Minuki or another military action in the Lake Chad region. Gorka also said US forces recovered a large amount of electronic equipment during the operation, which he described as valuable intelligence material. “That is priceless, because now our experts are taking apart all of that information, looking at how ISIS is communicating with each other,” he added.
He said the US would continue working with African countries to tackle terrorism and security threats. The claim comes amid ongoing US counterterrorism efforts in Africa, with Nigeria facing persistent jihadist insurgencies from groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
