Washington, 26 Dec

The United States on Thursday (local time) carried out what President Donald Trump described as a “deadly” strike against the Islamic State (ISIS) terror organisation in northwest Nigeria.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said the operation targeted ISIS militants accused of carrying out attacks and killings, particularly of Christians.

“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! 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 said.

He added that the operation was executed with precision by the US military. “The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our country will not allow radical Islamic terrorism to prosper. May God bless our military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues,” the US President said.

According to the US National Counterterrorism Centre, ISIS-West Africa (ISIS-WA) was formed in 2015 after Boko Haram pledged allegiance to ISIS. The group has since targeted regional military forces, civilian defence units, government infrastructure and Christian communities.

The strike in Nigeria comes days after US and Jordanian forces carried out large-scale air strikes against ISIS positions in Syria on December 19. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said more than 70 ISIS targets were hit using over 100 precision-guided munitions.

In a post on X, CENTCOM described the Syria operation as an example of “peace through strength” and released video footage of the air strikes. The operation followed a suspected ISIS attack on a convoy of US and Syrian forces near Palmyra in central Syria.