The U.S. on Wednesday said that it has alerted the Nigerian authorities that the Al-Qaeda terrorist group has started penetrating the country through the north-western region.

This was disclosed by the Commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, Africa, Dagvin Anderson, during a press briefing, according the US Department of State

He said the dreaded terrorist group is also expanding to other parts of West Africa.

In the briefing obtained by The Cable, Anderson pointed out the US will continue to partner with Nigeria in sharing intelligence.


“We have engaged with Nigeria and continue to engage with them in intel sharing and in understanding what these violent extremists are doing,” he said.

“And that has been absolutely critical to their engagements up in the Borno State and into an emerging area of northwest Nigeria that we’re seeing al-Qaida starting to make some inroad.

He said intelligence sharing is vital and that the US will stay fully engaged with the Nigerian government to provide the country with the understanding of what these terrorists are doing.