Donald Trump announced a ‘powerful and deadly’ Christmas Day strike on ISIS ‘terrorist scum’ in Nigeria and warned that radicals will continue to pay for the persecution of Christians.
The president, who previously threatened to send the US military to the West African nation ‘guns-a-blazing,’ made the announcement in a Truth Social post Thursday evening.
‘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!’ he wrote.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon confirmed to The Daily Mail that the Nigerian government approved of and worked with the US military on the strikes.
The US Africa Command posted on X that it had ‘conducted a strike at the request of Nigerian authorities in Soboto State killing multiple ISIS terrorists.’
Trump said in his lengthy post that the ISIS militants have had it coming for some time.
‘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.’
‘The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper,’ Trump added.
The president signed off with a warning for the terrorists that they will continue to pay if the murder of innocent Christians goes on.
‘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’s post did not include information about how the strike was carried out and what effects it had and the White House did not immediately provide further details.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth affirmed the president’s message in a social media post of his own.
‘The President was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end. The @DeptofWar is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas. More to come… Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation. Merry Christmas!’
Nigeria has been roiled by internal violence in the wake of a jihadist insurgency spearheaded by extremist group Boko Haram in the northeast since 2009.
In November, Trump threatened to take on the terrorists with ‘guns-a-blazing.’
Trump, 79, had already designated Nigeria a ‘country of particular concern,’ but he took his condemnation of the situation in the country even further after hearing about it on Fox News, threatening to cut aid and even send in US troops.
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Some Christian communities have welcomed the US president’s menace, believing that foreign armies are needed to restore peace in their homeland.
Amid the various forms of bloodletting around the country – including ethnic rivalry and banditry – the Islamist militants have been slaughtering Christians as well as Muslims they regard as ‘apostates’ for failing to comply with their brand of Islam.
There has also been a separate onslaught by Fulani Muslim tribesmen against mainly Christian farming communities, a protracted crisis linked to a tangle of issues like religion, ethnicity and a scramble over the dwindling supply of arable land.
While Christians are among those targeted, analysts say the majority of victims of armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north, where most attacks occur, according to the Associated Press.
Trump’s threat, which came after he watched a Fox News segment about the conflict in Nigeria, triggered alarm bells across West Africa.
Anonymous sources from the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), which directs American military operations across the continent, told the Washington Post Trump’s announcement prompted concern.
They said a US military operation in an area where there is little US intelligence was unlikely to make a difference, and leaders called for their sovereignty to be respected.
‘We welcome U.S. assistance as long as it recognizes our territorial integrity,’ Daniel Bwala, an adviser to President Tinubu, told Reuters.
Trump’s explosive announcement also came via Truth Social.
‘If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,’ he wrote.
‘I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action.
‘If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!’
Bwala sought to play down tensions between the two states, despite Trump calling Nigeria a ‘disgraced country.’
‘We don’t take it literally, because we know Donald Trump thinks well of Nigeria,’ Bwala said.
‘I am sure by the time these two leaders meet and sit, there would be better outcomes in our joint resolve to fight terrorism,’ he said.
Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people and around 200 ethnic groups, is divided between the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south.
Islamist insurgents such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have wrought havoc in the country for more than 15 years, killing thousands of people, but their attacks have been largely confined to the northeast of the country, which is majority Muslim.
While Christians have been killed, the vast majority of the victims have been Muslims, analysts say.
In central Nigeria there have been frequent clashes between mostly Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers over access to water and pasture, while in the northwest of the country, gunmen routinely attack villages, kidnapping residents for ransom.
Nigeria ‘does not discriminate against any tribe or religion in the fight against insecurity,’ Bwala said. ‘There is no Christian genocide.’
In mid-December, Trump placed the country on a list of 15 that faced partial travel bans to the US in a response to anti-Christian violence in Nigeria.
‘The United States is taking decisive action in response to the mass killings and violence against Christians by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani ethnic militias, and other violent actors in Nigeria and beyond,’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
