After the President of the United States gave the order to bomb Islamic State (ISIS) camps in Nigeria, Donald Trumpsaid that it was a “Christmas present“, since the attack took place exactly on December 25th.
Trump announced that the attack was originally scheduled for Wednesday the 24th, but that he had decided to postpone it for symbolic reasons. “They wanted to do it sooner,” the Republican said. “And I said, ‘NO, Let’s give them a Christmas present“…” he added.
In an interview with the American site POLITICO, he assured that the maneuver was effective: “They didn’t expect it, but we hit them hard.” All camps were decimated“.
In his Truth Social post announcing the attack, Trump wryly boasted: “Under my leadership, our country will not allow radical Islamic terrorism to thrive. God bless our armed forces and MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone, including the dead terrorists, of whom there will be many more if their massacre of Christians continues.”
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s comments: “The murder of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end. The War Department is always ready, as ISIS found out tonight on Christmas. There’s more to come… Merry Christmas!” he posted on X.
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The USA attacked Nigeria: The images of the strong air offensive
On Thursday, Trump launched a “powerful and deadly” attack against camps of the terrorist group ISIS – which he described as “terrorist scum” – in Nigeria that were attacking “innocent Christians.”
“I warned these terrorists before that all hell would break loose if they didn’t stop the massacre of Christians, and tonight it happened,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. The operation included the launch of a dozen Tomahawk missiles from a U.S. Navy ship stationed in the Gulf of Guinea.
According to the United States Africa Command (Africom), the attacks against camps were caused by suspected militias affiliated with the Islamic State (IS). “multiple” victims in Sokoto statenear the border with Niger.
A few hours after Trump’s announcement, Nigerian authorities confirmed that the attack was carried out jointly with the United States.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar announced on Friday that he had spoken to the Nigerian Foreign Ministry Secretary of State Marco RubioMinutes before the attack: “Nigeria provided intelligence information for the attack Americans in Nigeria. “I spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for 19 minutes before the attack and we agreed to speak to President (Bola Ahmed) Tinubu to get his consent and he gave it,” Tuggar told local television station Channels TV.
For his part, Lt. Gen. Samaila Uba, spokesman for the armed forces, said in a statement: “The attacks were based on reliable information and careful operational planning with the aim of weakening the operational capability of the terrorists while minimizing collateral damage.”
However, the Nigerian government did so rejected allegations of “massacre” against Christiansand points out that the network of violent armed groups with diverse motives spread across the country murders as many Muslims as Christians.
Armed violence has skyrocketed in the region and its associated insurgent groups in recent months ISIS already Al-Qaeda They have increased their attacks on military and civilian targets regardless of religion.
There have been attacks by the jihadist group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria since 2009. Violence intensified in 2016 with the emergence of its splinter group, the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP). Boko Haram and the ISWAP According to official figures, they have killed more than 35,000 people – many of them Muslims – and caused around 2.7 million internally displaced people, mainly in Nigeria, but also in neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
With information from EFE and AFP
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