MBABANE:President Donald Trump said on Thursday that, he ordered a deadly strike on Islamic State terrorists in Nigeria, who he has accused of persecuting Christians in the country, CNN reported.
In a post on social media, Trump said he directed a “powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” who he said had been killing innocent Christians, he later told Politico he delayed the strikes a day so they fell on Christmas.
“They were going to do it earlier I said, ‘nope, let’s give a Christmas present,” Trump told a News Organization.
But US Africa Command said it conducted the strikes in Sokoto state, which borders Niger to the north, “in coordination with Nigerian authorities.” AFRICOM’s initial assessment is that “multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the ISIS camps,” according to a news release.
A US official told CNN the strikes included Tomahawk missiles fired from a Navy vessel that struck two ISIS camps.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Monday, capping a year of drastic changes he initiated in government. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press).