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 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.
He also said the jihadists were not targeting members of a particular religion and that they had killed people from all faiths, or none.
President Tinubu has insisted there is religious tolerance in the country and said the security challenges were affecting people “across faiths and regions”.
Trump earlier announced that he had declared Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” because of the “existential threat” posed to its Christian population. He said “thousands” had been killed, without providing any evidence.
This is a designation used by the US state department that provides for sanctions against countries “engaged in severe violations of religious freedom”.
Following this announcement, Tinubu said his government was committed to working with the US and the international community to protect communities of all faiths.
Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have wrought havoc in north-eastern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands of people – however most of these have been Muslims, according to Acled, a group which analyses political violence around the world.
In central Nigeria, there are also frequent clashes between mostly Muslim herders and farming groups, who are often Christian, over access to water and pasture.
Deadly cycles of tit-for-tat attacks have also seen thousands killed – but atrocities have been committed on both sides.
Human rights groups say there is no evidence that Christians have been disproportionately targeted.
The US Central Command (Centcom) said fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery “struck more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria”. Aircraft from Jordan were also involved.
BBC NEWS
