WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said the United States launched a “powerful and deadly" strike against forces of the Islamic State group in Nigeria, after spending weeks accusing the West African country's government of failing to rein in the targeting of Christians.
In a Christmas evening post on his social media site Thursday, Trump did not provide details or mention the extent of the damage caused by the strikes in the northwestern
state of Sokoto.
A Defense Department official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss details not made public, said the U.S. worked with Nigeria to carry out the strikes and that they'd been approved by Abuja.
Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the cooperation included exchange of intelligence and strategic coordination in ways “consistent with international law, mutual respect for sovereignty and shared commitments to regional and global security."
The Associated Press could not confirm the extent of the strikes’ impact.
Nigeria is battling multiple armed groups, including at least two affiliated with IS, an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the less-known Lakurawa group prominent in the northwestern states, where the gangs use large swathes of forests as hideouts.
Security analysts said the target of the U.S. strikes could be the Lakurawa group, which in the last year has increasingly become lethal in the region, often targeting remote communities and security forces.
“Lakurawa is a group that is actually controlling territories in Nigeria, in Sokoto state and in other states like Kebbi,” said Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher at Good Governance Africa. “In the northwest, there has been the incursion of violent extremist groups that are ideologically driven," he said, blaming the incursion on the near absence of the state and security forces in hot spots.
Trump said the airstrikes were launched against IS militants “who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.” Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.
“Terrorist violence in any form, whether directed at Christians, Muslims or other communities, remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security,” the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Nigeria’s government has previously said in response to Trump’s criticisms that people of many faiths, not just Christians, have suffered attacks at the hands of extremist groups.
Trump ordered the Pentagon last month to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria to try and curb what he called Christian persecution. The State Department recently announced it would restrict visas for Nigerians and their family members involved in killing Christians there.
And the U.S. recently designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act.
Trump said U.S. defense officials had “executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing" and added that “our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper.”
Nigeria’s population of 220 million is split almost equally between Christians and Muslims. The country has long faced insecurity from various fronts, including Boko Haram, which seeks to establish its radical interpretation of Islamic law and has also targeted Muslims it deems not Muslim enough.
But attacks in Nigeria often have varying motives. There are religiously motivated ones targeting both Christians and Muslims, clashes between farmers and herders over dwindling resources, communal rivalries, secessionist groups and ethnic clashes.
The U.S. security footprint has diminished in Africa, where military partnerships have either been scaled down or canceled. U.S. forces likely would have to be drawn from other parts of the world for any larger-scale military intervention in Nigeria.
Trump has nonetheless kept up the pressure as Nigeria faced a series of attacks on schools and churches in violence that experts and residents say targets both Christians and Muslims.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted Thursday night on X: “The President was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end.”
Hegseth said that U.S. military forces are “always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas” and added, “More to come…Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation” before signing off, “Merry Christmas!”
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Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington, and Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
