The US carried out a strike against Islamic State group militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria's government, US President Donald Trump and the US military said on Thursday, claiming the group had been targeting Christians in the region.
"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!," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The US military’s Africa Command said the strike was carried out in Sokoto state at the request of the Nigerian authorities and killed multiple IS group militants.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the BBC the strike was a "joint operation" targeting "terrorists", and it "has nothing to do with a particular religion".
Without naming the IS group specifically, Tuggar said the operation had been planned "for quite some time" and had used intelligence information provided by the Nigerian side.
"It's Nigeria that provided the intelligence," he told a local television network ChannelsTV, saying he was on the phone with US State Secretary Marco Rubio. "We spoke twice. We spoke for 19 minutes before the strike and then we spoke again for another five minutes before it went on.”
He did not rule out further strikes, adding that this depended on "decisions to be taken by the leadership of the two countries".
The strike comes after Trump 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.
Read moreTrump threatens Nigeria with military action, escalating claims of Christian persecution
Reuters reported on Monday the US had been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November.
'More to come'
Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the strikes were carried out as part of ongoing security cooperation with the United States, involving intelligence sharing and strategic coordination to target militant groups.
"This has led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes in the North West," the ministry said in a post on X.
A video posted by the Pentagon showed at least one projectile launched from a warship. A US defence official said the strike targeted multiple militants at known IS group camps.
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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on X thanked the Nigerian government for its support and cooperation and added: “More to come...”
Nigeria's government has said armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, and US claims that Christians face persecution do not represent the complex security situation and ignore efforts to safeguard religious freedom. But it has agreed to work with the US to bolster its forces against militant groups.
The country's population is split between Muslims living primarily in the north and Christians in the south.
Police said earlier on Thursday a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people and injured 35 others in Nigeria's northeast, another region troubled by Islamist insurgents.
In a Christmas message posted on X earlier, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu called for peace in his country, "especially between individuals of differing religious beliefs".
He also said: "I stand committed to doing everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence."
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Trump issued his statement on the strike on Christmas Day while he was at his Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago Club, where he has been spending the holiday. He had no public events during the day and was last seen by the reporters traveling with him on Wednesday night.
The US military last week launched separate large-scale strikes against dozens of IS group targets in Syria, after Trump vowed to hit back in the wake of a suspected IS group attack on US personnel in the country.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)
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