United States President Donald Trump has claimed that military operations carried out by the United States helped bring an end to the widespread killing of Christians in Nigeria.
Trump made the statement on Friday during an event in Washington, where he highlighted his administration’s security operations against terrorist groups in different parts of the world.
According to the US President, American military intervention significantly reduced attacks targeting Christian communities in parts of Nigeria affected by insurgency and violent extremism.
“As you know, we recently struck Nigeria and largely ended the slaughter of great Christian populations,” Trump said.
He described the violence as severe, alleging that thousands of Christians, including women, children and elderly people, had lost their lives before the military action.
“They have a great Christian population. They were being butchered. Thousands and thousands of people were being killed — children, women, old people — just being slaughtered,” he said.
Trump further claimed that the operation dealt a major blow to those behind the attacks, saying key figures within the group were eliminated.
“They know that if they go further, the attack will be far greater, and they don’t want to get involved anymore. We hit them very hard. We knocked out their leader. We knocked out their second leader and their third leader,” he added.
The US President did not provide details of the alleged military operation, including when it took place or the specific groups that were targeted.
His remarks come amid ongoing efforts by Nigerian security agencies and international partners to tackle insurgency, terrorism and other violent attacks in parts of the country.
