{"id":504289,"date":"2026-01-09T18:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T18:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/504289\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T18:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T18:17:13","slug":"trump-warns-of-more-nigeria-airstrikes-if-christians-continue-to-be-killed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/504289\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump warns of more Nigeria airstrikes if Christians ‘continue to be killed’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Makuochi Okafor,BBC Africa, Lagosand<\/p>\n

Jean Otalor<\/p>\n

\"ReutersReuters<\/p>\n

Last year, Trump declared Nigeria a “country of particular concern” because of what he said was the “existential threat” to its Christian population<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump has warned that he could order more airstrikes on Nigeria if Christians continue to be killed in the West African nation.<\/p>\n

In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, Trump was asked whether the Christmas Day strikes in Nigeria’s northern Sokoto state, targeting Islamist militants, were part of a broader military campaign.<\/p>\n

“I’d love to make it a one-time strike. But if they continue to kill Christians it will be a many-time strike,” he said.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s government has rejected Trump’s earlier accusations that it is failing to protect Christians from jihadist attacks, saying that “Muslims, Christians and those of no faith alike” are targeted.<\/p>\n

Claims of a genocide against Nigeria’s Christians began circulating last year in some right-wing US circles – but organisations monitoring political violence in Nigeria say most victims of the jihadist groups are Muslims.<\/p>\n

When questioned about this in the interview published on Thursday<\/a>, Trump replied: “I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Nigeria’s foreign minister did not directly comment on the possibility of more air strikes but told the BBC: “We will continue to engage constructively and work with partners, including the United States, on the basis of mutual respect, international law, and Nigeria’s sovereignty.<\/p>\n

”Nigeria remains committed to protecting all citizens, Christians and Muslims alike, without discrimination,” said Alkasim Abdulkadir.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s population of more than 230 million people is roughly evenly divided among Christians, who predominate in the south, and Muslims, who are mostly in the north.<\/p>\n

For the past 15 years, the north-east of the country has suffered from a devastating Islamist insurgency at the hands of jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and those affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group, based in Borno state.<\/p>\n

The country also faces an array of other complex security issues in different regions, including criminal kidnapping gangs, clashes over land and separatist unrest.<\/p>\n

The US’s Christmas Day strikes<\/a> hit two camps run by a jihadist group called Lakurawa in the largely Muslim state of Sokoto, in north-western Nigeria near the border with Niger. It is still unclear if there were any casualties as neither the US nor Nigerian government has provided figures – and there has been no update on the outcome of the attack.<\/p>\n

Lakurawa established a foothold in the border region a few years ago and hails from areas north of Nigeria in the Sahel.<\/p>\n

The US and Nigerian government said after last month’s airstrikes that the militants were linked to IS groups in the Sahel – although IS has not linked itself to any of the group’s activities or announced ties to Lakurawa as it has done with other groups in the region that it backs.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the strikes, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the BBC that it had been a “joint operation” and “nothing to do with a particular religion”.<\/p>\n

Referring to the timing of the strikes, he said they did not have “anything to do with Christmas” – though Trump said he had ordered them as a “Christmas present”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The foreign minister added that the strikes had had the explicit approval of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and the involvement of the country’s armed forces.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

More about Nigeria’s security crises from the BBC:<\/p>\n

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