U.S. strikes IS forces in Nigeria after militant group targeted Christians
發佈日期: 2025-12-26 22:04
TVB News
U.S. President Donald Trump says he has launched a "powerful and deadly strike" against Islamic State forces in Nigeria. This, after he spent weeks decrying the group for targeting Christians.
Meanwhile, the last of a group of hundreds of students kidnapped from St. Mary's School in Nigeria's Niger state were reunited with their families.
The United States has launched airstrikes targeting militants affiliated with the Islamic State in northwestern Nigeria.
This, in a major escalation of an offensive the nation's overstretched military has struggled with for years.
Video from Sokoto state filmed late shows locals holding metal debris which appears to be part of a projectile, and a fire burning in the background, turning the night sky orange.
Announcing the military operation in a social media statement, US President Donald Trump said the "powerful and deadly" strikes were carried out against Islamic State militants "targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians."
Although officials did not say which group was targeted, security analysts said the target was most likely the Lakurawa group.
They are an IS-affiliated jihadi group that became more active and lethal in Sokoto and other northwestern states in the past year.
The group reportedly controls territories in northwest Nigeria, and often operates across the border in Niger.
A US Defense Department official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss details not made public, said Washington worked with Nigeria to carry out the strikes, and they'd been approved by that country's government.
The strikes come after Trump ordered the Pentagon last month to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria to try and curb what he called Christian persecution.
Nigeria's government has previously said people of many faiths, not just Christians, have suffered attacks at the hands of extremists groups.
Meanwhile, the last of a group of hundreds of students kidnapped from St. Mary's School in Nigeria's Niger state were reunited with their families after one of the largest mass abductions in the country's history.
Their parents had been waiting anxiously for their return.
Officials did not say whether a ransom had been paid. No group has claimed responsibility.
Residents blamed armed gangs that target schools and travellers in kidnappings for ransom across Nigeria's conflict-battered north.
