In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times published on Thursday, United States President Donald Trump suggested Washington might launch additional military strikes in Nigeria if attacks on Christian communities do not stop.
Trump was asked whether the U.S. military operation on December 25 — carried out against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria and presented by Washington as targeting extremists at Abuja’s request — was the start of a larger campaign. He replied: “I’d love to make it a one-time strike… but if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike.”
The Christmas Day raid drew global attention and controversy, partly because Trump framed it as a response to what he described as recurring killings of Christians by extremist groups — language that has intensified debate over the motives behind the intervention.
Pressed about remarks by his senior Africa adviser noting that groups such as Islamic State West Africa Province and Boko Haram have killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria, Trump conceded that Muslims also suffer attacks, saying: “I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians.”
The Nigerian Federal Government has firmly rejected claims of a targeted genocide against Christians, highlighting that violent armed groups operate with varied motives and have inflicted casualties on both Muslim and Christian communities across the country’s volatile northern regions.
