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President Donald Trump says the United States has launched a “powerful and deadly strike” against the Islamic State (IS) group in northwestern Nigeria.
The US leader described Islamic State as “terrorist scum” and accused the group of “primarily targeting and viciously killing innocent Christians”.
Trump said the U.S. military had “performed multiple, perfect strikes,” while U.S. Africa Command (Africom) later reported that Thursday’s attack was carried out in Sokoto state in coordination with Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tugal told the BBC it was a “joint operation” targeting “terrorists” and “had nothing to do with a particular religion”.
Tugar did not rule out the possibility of further attacks, saying it depended on “decisions taken by the leaders of the two countries.”
“Under my leadership, our country will not allow radical Islamic terrorism to flourish,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday night.
He did not reveal at the time which killing he was referring to, but claims of genocide against Nigerian Christians have been circulating in some right-wing circles in the United States in recent months.
Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegers said on Thursday that he was “grateful to the Nigerian government for its support and cooperation.”
“Merry Christmas!” he wrote on the X.
The U.S. Department of Defense later released an unclassified short video that appeared to show a missile being launched from a warship.
On Friday morning, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the country’s authorities “continue to engage in structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States of America, to address the ongoing threat of terrorism and violent extremism.
“This has resulted in airstrikes in northwestern Nigeria being able to accurately hit terrorist targets,” the statement said.
Groups that monitor the violence say there is no evidence that more Christians than Muslims have been killed in Nigeria, where followers of the two religions are roughly evenly divided.
An adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu told the BBC at the time that any military operation against jihadist groups should be carried out together.
Daniel Bwala said Nigeria welcomed U.S. help in fighting Islamist insurgents but noted that Nigeria was a “sovereign” country.
He also said that jihadists do not target members of a particular religion and kill people of all faiths, or those of no faith.
President Tinubu insisted there was religious tolerance in the country and said security challenges were affecting people “of different faiths and regions”.
Trump earlier announced that he had declared Nigeria a “country of particular concern” because of the “existential threat” to the country’s Christian population. He said “thousands” were killed but offered no evidence.
This is a designation used by the U.S. State Department to impose sanctions on countries that “egregiously violate religious freedom.”
Following the announcement, Tinubu said his government was committed to working with the United States and the international community to protect communities of all faiths.
Acled, a group that analyzes political violence around the world, said jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have wreaked havoc in northeastern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands of people, but most of them Muslims.
In central Nigeria, there are also frequent conflicts between mostly Muslim pastoralists and agricultural groups, often Christian, over access to water and pasture.
The deadly cycle of tit-for-tat has also killed thousands, but both sides have committed atrocities.
Human rights groups say there is no evidence that Christians are disproportionately targeted.
last week, US says it has launched “massive strikes” against Islamic State group in Syria
U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery “struck more than 70 targets at multiple locations in central Syria.” Planes from Jordan were also involved.
