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US President Donald Trump says his recently authorised missile strikes in Nigeria saved the Christian population in the West African nation.
Trump made the remarks on Friday during an event in Washington.
“As you know, we recently struck Nigeria and largely ended the slaughter of great Christian populations,” he said.
“They have a great Christian population. They were being butchered… butchered. Thousands and thousands of people were being killed, children, women, old people, just being slaughtered, hacked to death.”
Trump claimed the operation deterred further terror attacks in Nigeria.
“They know that if they go further, the attack will be far greater and that they don’t want to really get involved anymore so much,” he said.
“You know, we hit them very hard. We knocked out their leader. We knocked out their second leader and their third leader.”
Trump juxtaposed the operation in Nigeria to US military action in Iran.
“It sounds a little bit like Iran, actually. It’s all about a different cause that we have to do because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let it happen,” he said.
The US president said his administration intends to protect Christians across the world.
“So I’m saving Christians throughout the world, even though we are not in those various countries where you read about this,” he said.
“But they’d like to make our country just like those countries. That’s where they started. They started right where we are right now.”
‘WE HUNT THEM DOWN’
Trump said the US would continue to target terrorists wherever they operate.
“But I’m saving them by hitting these terrorists very violently and very hard. We’re hitting them very hard by the greatest weapons on earth, taking them out,” he said.
“We know where they are. We hunt them down, and we take them out. They go into a village and they just kill everybody, it’s like crazy.”
Trump also warned against what he described as threats to religious freedom.
“They will close your churches in this country. They go communist, and they’re trying to. They will kill your people, and that’s what they’re about. They want to end religion,” he added.
In December 2025, the US launched a fusillade of air strikes on ISIS terrorists in the north-western Nigerian state of Sokoto.
In May, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) announced that more than 20 ISIS/ISWAP fighters have been killed in multiple US-Nigeria air strikes in Metele, Borno state.
In June, the Nigerian military, in collaboration with the United States Africa Command (US-Africom), killed 21 ISWAP fighters in an air strike in Arege, Kukawa LGA of Borno state.
