The United States has Christmas Day air raids carried out on Islamic State (IS) fighters in Nigeria, President Donald Trump reports on his social media platform Truth Social. “Tonight, on my orders as Commander in Chief, the United States conducted a powerful and deadly strike against IS terrorists in northwestern Nigeria.”
The US Africa Command writes on X that there several IS fighters were killed in the attacks, but the exact number of victims is not known. According to the military, the attack took place at the request of Nigerian authorities. The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on X that “precision attacks on terrorist targets” were carried out in the context of “security cooperation” with the US.
Trump claims that IS fighters regularly attack and “brutally kill” “innocent Christians” on a scale not seen “for many years and even centuries.” He has said several times since the end of October that Christians in Nigeria are threatened and that the United States could intervene militarily if Nigeria does not better contain the violence. He speaks of an “existential threat”.
According to the Nigerian government, US claims that Christians are being persecuted do not reflect the complex security situation and armed groups are attacking both Muslims and Christians. Nigeria did agree to military cooperation with the US in order to take better action against militant groups.
Also read
Are the kidnappings in Nigeria of a religious nature? And three other questions
The journalistic principles of NRC