Trump says US hit ISIS targets in Nigeria

Washington, Dec 26 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) President Donald Trump said the United States carried out a military strike against ISIS targets in northwest Nigeria, describing the action as a direct response to escalating attacks on civilians.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” Trump said in a statement posted late Thursday. He said the group had been “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”

Trump said he had issued warnings in advance. “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,” he said.

According to the president, US forces carried out multiple operations during the mission. “The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing,” he said, without providing operational details. “Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper,” he said.

The Amercian strike comes amid heightened congressional focus on Nigeria’s security situation. The US had recently designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.

House Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Mario Díaz-Balart recently led a bipartisan Congressional delegation to Nigeria to examine what lawmakers described as alarming anti-Christian violence and religious persecution.

Members of the delegation said they heard directly from victims, local officials, and faith groups, and held briefings with the U.S. Embassy on escalating religious violence, particularly in the Middle Belt. Lawmakers discussed threats to Christian communities, mass casualty attacks, and large-scale displacement, as well as the need to improve policing, counterterrorism operations, and accountability.

During visits to Benue State, delegation members met state leaders and religious figures who said Christians face record levels of violence, kidnappings, and forced displacement, a media release said.

Nigeria faith leaders told lawmakers that entire communities had been destroyed and thousands driven from their homes, while humanitarian organizations warned that more than 500,000 people have been displaced since 2024.

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