Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to US President Donald Trump and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, has claimed that United States forces killed 199 jihadists during a single counterterrorism operation in Nigeria.
Gorka made the assertion during an interview with Marissa Streit, Chief Executive Officer of conservative media organisation PragerU, which aired on June 24. During the discussion, he spoke extensively about the Trump administration's approach to combating Islamist extremist groups.According to Gorka, the details of the operation were made public after being declassified.
“I can talk about this because it has 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.
He went on to describe what he characterised as a major US counterterrorism mission carried out in Nigeria.
“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,” Gorka stated.
He described the mission as the largest single neutralisation of enemy fighters since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“That is the biggest neutralisation enemy killed in action since September the 11th. One hundred and ninety-nine jihadists who will not harm Americans again,” he added.
As of the time of filing this report, Gorka did not identify the specific operation he was referring to. However, US and Nigerian security forces have previously conducted joint counterterrorism operations against ISIS-linked militants and fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the Lake Chad Basin.
Gorka also claimed that security forces recovered a significant cache of electronic intelligence during the raid.
“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,” he said.
He further argued that Africa has become an increasingly important front in the global fight against terrorism, citing the expansion of extremist groups that exploit instability and ungoverned spaces across parts of the continent.
Gorka added that the United States remains committed to strengthening security partnerships with African nations as part of broader efforts to combat terrorism and prevent the spread of extremist networks.
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