The United States on Thursday struck terror group Islamic State in Nigeria, US President Donald Trump said.
The “powerful and deadly” strikes in northwestern Nigeria were against terrorists who had been “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even centuries”, Trump said on social media.
The US president said that he had warned the terror group that if they did not stop “the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was”.
The Department of War executed several strikes, Trump said, adding that the US “will not allow radical Islamic terrorism to prosper”.
The strikes in Nigeria’s Sokoto state had been coordinated with the authorities in the West African country, the US Africa Command said.
The US military claimed that several Islamic State terrorists had been killed in a terror camp, but did not provide details, citing operational security.
On November 2, Trump had said that the US could deploy soldiers in Nigeria or carry out air strikes to stop what he described as the killing of Christians “in very large numbers” in the African country.
Besides Nigeria, parts of Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Niger have for more than a decade faced Islamist insurgency from the Islamic State and other groups such as Boko Haram.
The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the country had undertaken security cooperation with international partners, including the US to address the threat of terrorism and violent extremism.
The cooperation with the US includes the exchange of intelligence, strategic coordination and other forms of support in line with international law, mutual respect for sovereignty, and shared commitments to regional and global security, the ministry said.
Abuja said that its counter-terrorism actions are guided by the responsibility to protect civilian lives, safeguard national unity, and uphold the rights and dignity of citizens irrespective of their faith or ethnicity.
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