US president Donald Trump announced that America has started deadly attack against Islamic State (IS) group in the north-western Nigeria.
The US leader described IS as ” terrorist scum”, accusing the group of “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians”.
Trump said the US military “executed numerous perfect strikes”, while the US Africa Command (Africom) later reported that Thursday’s attack was carried out in co-ordination with Nigeria in the Sokoto state
In November, Trump ordered the US military to prepare for action in Nigeria to tackle Islamist militant groups.
He did not say at the time which killings he was referring to ,but claims of a genocide against Nigeria’s Christians have been circulating in recent months in some right-wing US circles.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday he was “grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation”.
“Merry Christmas!” he added, writing on his X.account.
Groups monitoring violence say there is no evidence to suggest that Christians are being killed more than Muslims in Nigeria, which is roughly evenly divided between followers of the two religions.
An adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu told the BBC our reference, the time that any military action against the jihadist groups should be carried out together.
Daniel Bwala said Nigeria would welcome US help in tackling the Islamist insurgents but noted that it was a “sovereign” country.
He also said the jihadists were not targeting members of a particular religion and that they had killed people from all faiths, or none.
President Tinubu has insisted there is religious tolerance in the country and said the security challenges were affecting people “across faiths and regions”.
Trump earlier announced that he had declared Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” because of the “existential threat” posed to its Christian population. He said “thousands” had been killed,
Following this announcement, Tinubu said his government was committed to working with the US and the international community to protect communities of all faiths.
Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State in the West Africa region have wrought havoc in north-eastern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands of people – however most of these have been Muslims, according to Acled, a group which analyses political violence around the world.
In central Nigeria, there are also frequent clashes between mostly Muslim herders and farming groups, who are often Christian, over access to water and pasture.
Deadly cycles of tit-for-tat attacks have also seen thousands killed – but atrocities have been committed on both sides.
Human rights groups say there is no evidence that Christians have been disproportionately targeted.
Last week, the US said it had carried out a “massive strike” against IS in Syria.
The US Central Command (Centcom) said fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery “struck more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria”. Aircraft from Jordan were also involved.
The right to live is major human right, no one have to loose his live over terrorist groups.
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