Trump says US launched strike against ISIS in northwest Nigeria | Donald Trump News

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The US president said a “deadly strike” in Nigeria targeted ISIL fighters who killed “mostly innocent Christians”.

The United States carried out an airstrike against ISIL (ISIS) fighters in northwest Nigeria, US President Donald Trump said.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS terrorists in northwest Nigeria,” Trump said in a message on his Truth Social platform Thursday evening.

Trump said ISIS fighters had “targeted and viciously” killed “primarily innocent Christians, at levels not seen in many years, and even centuries!”

“I have previously warned these terrorists that if they did not stop the massacre of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight that was the case,” Trump said.

The US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), responsible for operations in Africa, said in a message on X that the airstrike was carried out “at the request of Nigerian authorities” and killed “several ISIS terrorists”.

“Grateful for the support and cooperation of the Nigerian government,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media, also warning of “more to come,” without providing details.

In a statement, AFRICOM said the strike took place in “Soboto State,” an apparent reference to Sokoto State in Nigeria.

The US military action comes weeks after Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for possible military action in Nigeria following allegations of persecution of Christians in the country.

The government of Nigeria had rejected Trump’s claims saying armed groups target both the country’s Muslim and Christian communities, and the United States says Christians are being persecuted ‌do not represent a complex security situation and ignore the efforts of Nigerian authorities to safeguard religious freedom.

Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement shortly after Trump announced the US strike, confirming on Friday morning that Nigerian authorities were “engaged in structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States of America, to address the continuing threat of terrorism and violent extremism.”

“This led to precise strikes on terrorist targets in Nigeria through airstrikes in the North-West,” the ministry said.

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington DC, said the threat of US military action in Nigeria had been “seeping for some time” and that Donald Trump had accused Nigeria of not doing enough to protect its Christian community during his first term as president.

“But in the last two months or so, under pressure from Congress and the State Department, they declared Nigeria a country of particular concern when it comes to Christian rights and we heard that the United States had started flying over Nigeria from an air base in Accra, Ghana, in the last few weeks. And now we have it,” Rattansi said.

“On Christmas Day, the Trump administration takes action. That will go down very well with Trump’s evangelical Christian base, I’m sure,” he said.

Trump issued his attack statement on Christmas Day while at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the holiday.