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‘Merry Christmas to dead terrorists’: Donald Trump as US strikes ISIS in Nigeria
According to Donald Trump, the strikes carried out by the US “Department of War” were in response to what he called “vicious killing” of Christians.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) announced that the United States launched “a powerful and deadly strike” targeting ISIS terrorists in Northwest Nigeria.
The strike comes after Trump, starting in late October, began warning that Christianity faces an "existential threat" in Nigeria and threatened to militarily intervene in the West African country, over what he says is its failure to stop violence targeting Christian communities. According to the Republican leader, the strikes carried out by the “Department of War” were in response to what he called “vicious killing” 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!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The US military's Africa Command said on X that the strike was conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS militants.
The Republican declared that the United States “will not allow radical Islamic terrorism to prosper” under his leadership. While wishing everyone, including the terrorists, Merry Christmas, Donald Trump said many more of them would be dead if “their slaughter of Christians continues”.
“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. 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,” Trump added.
Nigeria's government has said armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, and Trump's claims that Christians face persecution do not represent a complex security situation and ignore efforts to safeguard religious freedom. But it has agreed to work with the US to bolster its forces against militant groups, Reuters reported.
The country's population is split between Muslims living primarily in the north and Christians in the south.
