Nigeria, Feb. 15 -- Three United States aircraft carrying troops and weapons have reportedly arrived in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The New York Times reports that the first plane arrived in the capital city on Thursday night, noting officials from both countries said the first batch of roughly 100 US troops will arrive in Nigeria over the weekend.

By Friday evening, three planes were reported to have landed in Maiduguri, with equipment being offloaded from one of them.

These first arrivals mark the start of C-17 cargo planes heading to three different sites across Nigeria, a US Defence Department official told the newspaper, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of operational details.

More aircraft transp...