The United States has pulled out most of the troops deployed to Nigeria for a special operation against fighters of the Islamic State group in the country's northeast, the American military said.
In May, US and Nigerian forces in the Lake Chad region of Nigeria killed nearly 200 IS fighters, including the jihadist group's global second-in-command.
"We have withdrawn much of our forces that were just there for that operation," US Africa Command's General Dagvin Anderson told a media briefing on Thursday from the Angolan capital, Luanda.
"But (we) are continuing the partnership that Nigeria has asked for to help continue with the intelligence sharing and the understanding that's necessary to be able to prosecute these difficult tasks," he said.
Nigerian Defence Minister Christopher Musa told AFP in an interview on Thursday that US combat troops had deployed to Nigeria specifically for the May operation.
That group was separate from the roughly 200 non-combat troops deployed to Nigeria earlier this year for broader training and technical assistance.
"They came in, did that, did their work, and took off," Musa said.
It was unclear if some troops from the broader training mission had also pulled out, and if so, how many remain.
"We continue to have forces in Nigeria. The number of personnel will fluctuate as required to meet requirements," an Africom spokeswoman told AFP.
Anderson said that following the May operation the Nigerian military "has been very active".
"They continue to prosecute targets themselves" resulting in "more defections or surrenders of ISIS followers in that northeastern area of Nigeria. So that's a combined effort that continues to build," said Anderson.
Northeast Nigeria has been gripped by an Islamist extremist insurgency since 2009, first by Boko Haram, then its offshoot and rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
The groups have since last year stepped up reported attacks on villages, police stations and workers such as loggers and fishermen, as well as military bases, killing several senior army officers.
The upsurge in attacks prompted President Bola Tinubu to declare a nationwide state of emergency in 2025 and US President Donald Trump to threaten Nigeria with military intervention.
