USA Attacks launched against targets Islamic State in the northwest of Nigeria after previous warnings from the president Donald Trump According to official statements released this week, it will suspend aid and order a military intervention if Abuja does not stop the killings of Islamist militants.
The US attacks came after Trump warned in early November that Washington would take direct action if the Nigerian government did not stop violence against Christians.
Trump announced the offensive via his social network Social truthwith few operational details. “The US has launched a massive and deadly attack on ISIS terrorist scum in northwestern Nigeria“, wrote.
In the same message, he accused the group: “brutal attacks and murders, especially of innocent Christians“.
He Ministry of Defense reported that the operations were carried out in coordination with the Nigerian government, without providing details on the extent of the bombings or the number of victims. The US authorities did not release any further information about the specific targets or possible collateral damage.
On November 1, Trump declared that the United States would “allow the murder of Christians” if the Nigerian government continued to “allow the murder of Christians.”would immediately stop all aid and support to Nigeria and possibly enter that country in disgrace by being shot“.
“I hereby direct our War Department to prepare for possible action,” the president wrote. “If we attack, it will be quick, fierce and powerful“.
The Defense Minister, Pete HegsethHe responded to the publication with a short message: “Yes, sir” and added that the Pentagon is “preparing to take action.”
A day before these statements, the Trump administration announced that it would restore Nigeria as a “Land of particular importance”a term Washington uses for nations deemed responsible for “serious violations of religious freedomTrump had already taken a similar action in 2020, near the end of his first term, a decision that was later reversed during his administration Joe Biden.
When asked last month about the details of his plan, Trump stood his ground. “I foresee a lot of things. They kill Christians, and in large numbers. We won’t allow that.“, he explained.
In the days leading up to the warnings, several of the president’s political allies made similar allegations. Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas accused Nigeria: “Facilitate mass murder“of Christians.
The Nigerian government rejected the allegations. The President Bola Ahmed Tinubu He said Saturday that the country remains committed to protecting religious freedom. “Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious freedom“, he wrote on social networks.
In a later statement, Tinubu claimed that the characterization of Nigeria “Being considered religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality” and cited what he described as the government’s ongoing efforts to protect freedom of religion or belief for all citizens.
Nigeria, with a population close 220 million peoplehas large communities Christians and Muslims. Several regions of the country have suffered from violence by extremist groups for years, including Boko Haraman Islamist organization based in the northeast that attacks both Christians and Muslims it deems insufficiently faithful. A splinter group that Islamic State Province in West Africacarries out similar attacks.
In a 2024 report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom found that extremist violence in Nigeria “affects large numbers of Christians and Muslims in several states“.
There are also deadly clashes in the center of the country Shepherds and farmersin a context of conflict over scarce resources that fuels religious and ethnic tensions. The shepherds are usually of ethnic origin Fulani and Muslims, while farmers are generally Christians.
Other episodes of violence are linked to the seizure of land by armed men. There is also a widespread kidnapping and ransom industry in northwestern Nigeria, exacerbating regional insecurity.
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