WASHINGTON (The Thursday Times) — US President Donald J Trump said late Thursday that the United States had carried out what he described as a “powerful and deadly” strike against Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria.
In a statement posted online, Donald Trump said the ISIS militants had been “targeting and viciously killing” Christians and that the United States had launched the operation “at my direction as Commander in Chief”. He said the strikes were carried out by what he called the “Department of War” and described them as “numerous” and “perfect”.
Donald Trump did not provide details on the location of the strikes, the targets hit, the number of aircraft or munitions used, or casualty figures. Independent confirmation was not immediately available at the time of his statement.
Nigeria has faced years of insecurity involving multiple armed groups, including Islamist insurgents and criminal bandit networks, with violence varying by region.∎
