The United States carried out an airstrike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government, U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S. military said on Thursday, claiming the group had been targeting Christians in the region.
The strike comes after Trump starting in late October began warning that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened to militarily intervene in the West African country over what he says is its failure to stop violence targeting Christian communities.
Unconfirmed reports said scores were killed in the stealth operation which happened on Christmas Day. Trump gave no details on fatalities.
President Donald Trump on Thursday in a post on social media confirmed that the U.S. launched strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria on Christmas day.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries! I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”
Trump stressed that under his leadership, the U.S. will not allow “Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. ”
“May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues,” the president said.
The U.S. military’s Africa Command said on X the strike was conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS militants.
