By Agencies
President Donald Trump has said the US launched a “powerful and deadly strike” against the Islamic State (IS) group in north-western Nigeria.
The US leader described IS as ” terrorist scum”, accusing the group of “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians”.
Trump said the US military “executed numerous perfect strikes”, while the US Africa Command (Africom) later reported that Thursday’s attack was carried out in co-ordination with Nigeria in the Sokoto state.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the BBC it was a “joint operation” targeting “terrorists”, and it “has nothing to do with a particular religion”.
Without naming IS specifically, Tuggar said the operation had been planned “for quite some time” and had used intelligence information provided by the Nigerian side.
The minister did not rule out further strikes, adding that this depended on “decisions to be taken by the leadership of the two countries”.
In his post on Truth Social late on Thursday, Trump said that “under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper”.
In November, Trump ordered the US military to prepare for action in Nigeria to tackle Islamist militant groups.
He did not say at the time which killings he was referring to, but claims of a genocide against Nigeria’s Christians have been circulating in recent months in some right-wing US circles.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that he was “grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation”.
President Trump last month ordered the US military to prepare for action in Nigeria
The US Department of Defense later posted a short video that appeared to show a missile being launched from a military vessel.
On Friday morning, the Nigerian foreign ministry said in a statement that the country’s authorities “remain engaged in structured security co-operation with international partners, including the United States of America, in addressing the persistent threat of terrorist and violent extremism.
“This has led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes in the North West,” the statement said.