President Donald Trump has said the US launched a “powerful and deadly strike” against the Islamic State (IS) group in north-western Nigeria.
The US leader described IS as ” terrorist scum”, accusing the group of “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians”.
Trump said the US military “executed numerous perfect strikes”, while Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was “grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation. Merry Christmas!”
The US Africa Command later said the strikes were carried out in co-ordination with Nigeria in the Sokoto state. Separately, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the BBC it was a “joint operation”.
Tuggar did not rule out further strikes, saying this depended on “decisions to be taken by the leadership of the two countries”.
In November, Trump ordered the US military to prepare for action in Nigeria to tackle Islamist militant groups.
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In his post on Truth Social late on Thursday, Trump said that “under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper”.
In his warning back in November, the US leader did not say which killings he was referring to – but claims of a genocide against Nigeria’s Christians have been circulating in recent months in some right-wing US circles.
Groups monitoring violence say there is no evidence to suggest that Christians are being killed more than Muslims in Nigeria, which is roughly evenly divided between followers of the two religions.
An adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu told the BBC at the time that any military action against the jihadist groups should be carried out together.
Daniel Bwala said Nigeria would welcome US help in tackling the Islamist insurgents but noted that it was a “sovereign” country.
Source: BBC