{"id":3293,"date":"2025-12-26T17:57:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T17:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=3293"},"modified":"2025-12-26T17:57:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T17:57:28","slug":"why-has-trump-ordered-powerful-strikes-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=3293","title":{"rendered":"Why has Trump ordered \u2018powerful strikes\u2019 in Nigeria?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0has hailed \u2018powerful and deadly\u2019\u00a0US<\/a>\u00a0strikes\u00a0carried out on\u00a0Christmas<\/a>\u00a0Day\u00a0against an\u00a0Islamic State<\/a>\u00a0branch\u00a0in\u00a0Nigeria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The US president\u00a0said\u00a0\u2018perfect\u2019 hits had been carried out against\u00a0\u2018ISIS\u00a0terrorist scum\u2019\u00a0in\u00a0the operation targeting\u00a0camps run by\u00a0the group in the\u00a0country\u2019s\u00a0north-west.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Pentagon\u00a0reported\u00a0that an \u2018initial assessment\u2019 had suggested \u2018multiple\u2019 fatalities\u00a0after the strikes in Sokoto state on the border with\u00a0Niger<\/a>.\u00a0Trump said that the group had been \u2018targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.\u2019<\/p>\n

A video uploaded to X by the US Department of War\u00a0yesterday\u00a0showed missiles being launched from a warship.<\/p>\n

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The West African country\u2019s foreign ministry said that \u2018co-operation\u2019\u00a0with the US had \u2018led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\"Trump's<\/div>
The location of Sokoto state on a map of Nigeria (Picture: Created with Datawrapper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0action follows\u00a0statements by Trump\u00a0that Christians are being systematically targeted by\u00a0jihadists\u00a0in Nigeria \u2014 although these\u00a0claims have been\u00a0thrown into question by monitoring groups.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s\u00a0what is known so far:<\/p>\n

Why is the US striking targets in Nigeria?<\/h2>\n
\n
\"Nigeria<\/div>
Members of the Nigerian police\u2019s Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit secure the scene of a US airstrike in north-west Jabo on December 26, 2025 (Picture: AP Photo\/Tunde Omolehin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A web of jihadist groups, including\u00a0Boko Haram and a related ISIS franchise, has been present in Nigeria for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

However\u00a0the expansion into the\u00a0north-west of the country is thought to be a\u00a0fairly recent\u00a0development.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has previously made statements suggesting that Christians are\u00a0being targeted by extremists in Nigeria\u00a0and\u00a0that the\u00a0government<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0failing to protect\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

In October, the US president warned that Christianity is facing an \u2018existential threat\u2019 in the West African country.<\/p>\n

However\u00a0Abuja\u00a0says that armed groups are\u00a0targeting\u00a0both Muslims and Christians amid a complex security situation.<\/p>\n

The figures used to justify Trump\u2019s claims have also been thrown into question by monitoring groups.<\/p>\n

What has Trump said about the strikes?<\/h2>\n
\n
\"President<\/div>
Donald Trump raises a fist at Christmas Eve dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club before announcing the US strikes the following day (Picture: AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a Christmas Day\u00a0social media<\/a>\u00a0post, Trump said: \u2018Tonight, at my direction as commander in chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against\u00a0Isis\u00a0terrorist scum in\u00a0northwest\u00a0Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily,\u00a0innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even centuries!<\/p>\n

\u2018I have previously warned these terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed\u00a0numerous\u00a0perfect strikes, as only the United States\u00a0is capable of doing.<\/p>\n

\u2018Under my leadership, our country will not allow radical islamic terrorism to prosper. 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.\u2019<\/p>\n

What is happening to Christians in Nigeria?<\/h2>\n
\n
\"A<\/div>
A man in Lagos reads local newspapers with headlines on gunmen abducting schoolchildren and staff (Picture: AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Islamist militants are systematically killing civilians in the country, according to Trump and other\u00a0prominent\u00a0figures in\u00a0America.<\/p>\n

TV host Bill Maher has described the situation as \u2018genocide\u2019,\u00a0while Texas senator Ted Cruz claims that more than 50,000 Christians\u00a0have been \u2018massacred\u2019 since 2009, although he described it as \u2018persecution\u2019.<\/p>\n

Cruz and Trump have accused Abuja of ignoring the killings.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0the\u00a0BBC<\/a>\u00a0has found that some of the data behind these stark conclusions is difficult to verify.<\/p>\n

\n
\"People<\/div>
Children gather at the site of a US airstrike in Nigeria\u2019s north-west Jabo region in an operation said by Donald Trump to have hit ISIS terrorists (Picture: Tunde Omolehin\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Officials in Nigeria have said that the terrorists are attacking Muslims,\u00a0Christians\u00a0and anyone else outside of\u00a0their\u00a0extreme ideology.<\/p>\n

Acled, which\u00a0monitors\u00a0violence in West Africa,\u00a0raised questions over a figure posted on social media\u00a0stating\u00a0that jihadists had killed more than 100,000 Christians since 2009.<\/p>\n

The independent conflict monitoring group\u00a0found that this figure would include\u00a0all acts of political violence in the country, rather than just those\u00a0aimed at one faith.<\/p>\n

Who are the jihadist groups in Nigeria?<\/h2>\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau pictured in 2014 (Picture: AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most\u00a0well-known\u00a0Islamic terror group\u00a0is\u00a0Boko Haram.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Founded in 2002, the group is primarily based in Nigeria\u2019s north-east, although its\u00a0activities have\u00a0spread into\u00a0other\u00a0regions\u00a0and over the country\u2019s borders, including Niger.<\/p>\n

Atrocities include\u00a0suicide bombings,\u00a0attacks on schools, the burning of\u00a0villages and hundreds of abductions,\u00a0including 276\u00a0schoolgirls\u00a0from the town of Chibok<\/a>\u00a0in 2014.<\/p>\n

In 2015,\u00a0Boko Haram\u00a0declared allegiance to ISIS\u00a0and rebranded itself as Islamic State in the West African Province (ISWAP).<\/p>\n

A split then\u00a0occurred, with\u00a0Boko Haram\u00a0continuing indiscriminate violence, while\u00a0also becoming known as\u00a0Jama\u2019atu\u00a0Ahlis-Sunna\u00a0Lidda\u2019Awati\u00a0Wal-Jihad,\u00a0while\u00a0ISWAP presented\u00a0itself as a group that cared about civilians.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0the latter\u2019s promises evaporated amid attacks and raids on\u00a0villagers, one of which was a massacre of 100 civilians, according to human security\u00a0organisation\u00a0the Institute for Security Studies.<\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s\u00a0security picture is further complicated by regular clashes between\u00a0predominantly Muslim\u00a0Fulani\u00a0herders and farming groups of Muslim and Christian faiths\u00a0over access to\u00a0dwindling\u00a0natural resources.<\/p>\n

The Fulani herders have been described as \u2018jihadists\u2019,\u00a0but ethnic tensions and competition over increasingly scarce water and land have been cited by analysts as reasons for the violence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Donald Trump\u00a0has hailed \u2018powerful and deadly\u2019\u00a0US\u00a0strikes\u00a0carried out on\u00a0Christmas\u00a0Day\u00a0against an\u00a0Islamic State\u00a0branch\u00a0in\u00a0Nigeria. The US president\u00a0said\u00a0\u2018perfect\u2019 hits had been carried out against\u00a0\u2018ISIS\u00a0terrorist scum\u2019\u00a0in\u00a0the operation targeting\u00a0camps run by\u00a0the group in the\u00a0country\u2019s\u00a0north-west. The\u00a0Pentagon\u00a0reported\u00a0that an \u2018initial assessment\u2019 had suggested \u2018multiple\u2019 fatalities\u00a0after the strikes in Sokoto state on the border with\u00a0Niger.\u00a0Trump said that the group had been \u2018targeting and viciously killing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t