REUTERS, Palm Beach

The United States carried out strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government, President Donald Trump and the US military said on Thursday, claiming the group had been targeting Christians in the region.

“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!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The US military’s Africa Command said the strike was carried out in Sokoto state in coordination with Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS militants.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the British Broadcasting Corp the strike was a “joint operation” targeting “terrorists”, and it “has nothing to do with a particular religion”.

Without naming ISIS specifically, Tuggar said the operation had been planned “for quite some time” and had used intelligence information provided by the Nigerian side. He did not rule out further strikes, adding that this Reuters

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