West Palm Beach, Florida
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n President Donald Trump said Thursday he\u2019d ordered a deadly strike on Islamic State terrorists in Nigeria, who he has accused of persecuting Christians in the country.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cTonight, 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!\u201d the president wrote on Truth Social<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI 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,\u201d he went on. \u201cThe Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cUnder 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,\u201d concluded the president, who is spending the Christmas holiday at his estate in Palm Beach.\n <\/p>\n \n CNN has reached out to the White House and the Nigerian government for additional comment. In a separate post<\/a> on social media, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was \u201cgrateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Trump has focused for the last several months on the plight of Christians in Nigeria, including calling in November on his secretary of defense to \u201cprepare for possible action\u201d and warning the US would enter Nigeria \u201cguns-a-blazing\u201d to protect the Christian population of Africa\u2019s most populous country.\n <\/p>\n \n On Christmas Eve, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu shared a \u201cChristmas Goodwill Message\u201d in which he wished Christians across his nation and the world a Merry Christmas and prayed for peace among individuals of differing religious beliefs.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI stand committed to doing everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence,\u201d Tinubu said in a post on X.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n The West African nation has grappled for years with deep-rooted security problems that are driven by various factors, including religiously motivated attacks. Observers say other violent conflicts arise from communal and ethnic tensions, as well as disputes between farmers and herders over limited access to natural resources.\n <\/p>\n