Donald Trump announces US strikes on Nigeria’s ‘ISIS terrorist scum’

Donald Trump has announced the US military has carried out a series of deadly strikes on “ISIS terrorist scum” in Nigeria, after violent attacks on Christians.

The US President said he ordered the strikes after Christians were targeted and “viciously” killed “at levels not seen for many years, and even centuries”.

Revealing the military action in a Truth Social post on Christmas Day local time, Mr Trump said he had previously warned the terrorists that if they did not stop the “slaughtering of Christians there would be hell to pay and tonight, there was”.

He concluded the post with “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.”

In a separate post on X, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth he was grateful for the Nigerian government’s “support and cooperation”.

“The President was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end. The @DeptofWar is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas. More to come…”

In November, Mr Trump ordered the US military to prepare for potential military action in the West African country threatening to go into the country “guns-a-blazing” because Christianity in the country faced existential threat.

At the time Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said that the characterisation of Nigeria as a religiously intolerant country did not reflect the national reality.

“Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so,” Mr Tinubu said.

“Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it. Nigeria is a country with constitutional guarantees to protect citizens of all faiths.”