The United States carried out an air strike against Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government, US President Donald Trump and the US military said, claiming the group had been targeting Christians in the region.         

US strikes kill at least five IS members in Syria, monitor says

The operation employed more than 100 precision munitions targeting known IS infrastructure and weapons sites, according to a US Centcom statement.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS terrorist scum in north-west Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even centuries!” Mr Trump said in a social media post on Thursday.   

The US military’s Africa Command said on X that the strike was conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS militants.

The strike comes after Mr Trump, starting 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.

Furthermore, Mr Trump in his social media post said that he had warned “there would be hell to pay” if they did not “stop the slaughtering of Christians”.

“Under my leadership, our country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper.

“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.

Nigeria working with US against militants

Reuters reported on Monday that the US had been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November.

Nigeria’s government has said armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, and US claims that Christians face persecution do not represent a 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.

The president issued his statement 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 travelling with him on Wednesday night.

ABC/Reuters