Trump says US struck Islamic State targets in Nigeria
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA—President Donald Trump said Thursday night that he’d launched a “powerful and deadly strike” against Islamic State (IS or Isis) forces in Nigeria, after he spent weeks decrying the group for targeting Christians.
The president’s post did not include information about how the strike was carried out and what effects it had and the White House did not immediately provide further details.
“Tonight, 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!” the president posted on his social media site.
Military action
Last month, Trump said he’d ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria following the claims of Christian persecution. The Department of State then announced in recent weeks that it would restrict visas for Nigerians and their family members involved in mass killings and violence against Christians in the West African country.
The United States recently designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act.
“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,” Trump wrote in his Christmas night post. He said that US defense officials had “executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.”
Lethal borders
The president added: “our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper.”
The armed groups in Africa’s most populous country include at least two affiliated with the IS—an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province known locally as Lakurawa and prominent in the northwest.
Although officials did not say exactly which group was targeted, security analysts said the target, if indeed against IS militants, was likely members of Lakurawa, which became more lethal in border states like Sokoto and Kebbi in the last year, often targeting remote communities and security forces.
