US President Donald Trump
Nigeria has been identified as the site of what the United States describes as one of its most significant counterterrorism operations in recent years, with US Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, Sebastian Gorka, revealing that 199 jihadists were killed during the mission.
Speaking in an interview with PragerU CEO Marissa Streit, Gorka said the operation also produced the largest cache of enemy electronic materials recovered since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, forcing US authorities to deploy an additional aircraft to transport the seized devices.
“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.
Gorka added, “That is the biggest neutralisation enemy killed in action since September the 11th — 199 jihadists who will not harm Americans again.”
He further disclosed that “we needed an extra plane to bring home all the electronic material that we captured in those camps,” noting that “the haul was three times bigger than any enemy electronics haul since 9-11,” with intelligence experts now analysing the devices to uncover how ISIS operatives communicate and coordinate.
Stressing the significance of the intelligence recovered, Gorka said, “We are so back in the game of counterterrorism. It is just superlative to watch our professionals.”
He also claimed that President Donald Trump’s administration has eliminated more than 1,000 jihadists globally while maintaining an aggressive counterterrorism campaign.
Explaining the administration’s focus on Africa, Gorka said, “Terrorists need ungoverned space. They need somewhere where they can hang out and rebuild. Africa has a lot of ungoverned space. That’s why I focus a lot of my attention on that region of the world where ISIS is trying to reconstitute a caliphate.”
