President Donald Trump has warned that the United States may launch additional military strikes in Nigeria if attacks against Christians persist.
Trump made the comment during an interview with The New York Times, when asked whether the Christmas Day missile strikes targeting the Islamic State terror group signalled a wider military campaign.
The strikes came roughly a month after Trump publicly threatened to deploy US troops into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing to wipe out the terrorists killing our cherished Christians,” amid repeated claims by some American politicians that Christians were being targeted for genocide in the country.
Following the operation, Nigerian authorities said the action was a one-off incident, stressing that Nigeria maintained control over decisions relating to its security. Ademola Oshodi, senior special assistant to President Bola Tinubu on foreign affairs and protocol, had stated that Nigeria retained decision-making authority over the matter.
However, Trump later suggested that further action could follow and reinforced that position in the NYT interview published on Thursday.
“I’d love to make it a one-time strike,” Trump said.
“But if they continue to kill Christians it will be a many-time strike.”
The Nigerian government has consistently rejected allegations of targeted killings of Christians, maintaining that the country’s security challenges affect citizens across religious lines.
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In October, Trump’s senior adviser for Arab and African affairs, Massad Boulos, stated that extremist groups such as Boko Haram and ISIS had killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria.
Responding to his adviser’s remarks, Trump said, “I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians.”
Following the Christmas Day strikes, flight tracking data reportedly indicated that the United States resumed intelligence-gathering and surveillance operations within Nigerian airspace.