US President Donald Trump says missile strikes recently approved by his administration in Nigeria helped stop attacks on Christian communities and weakened terrorist groups in the country.
Speaking at an event in Washington on Friday, Trump said the military action greatly reduced the killing of Christians, who he claimed had been heavily targeted.
“As you know, we recently struck Nigeria and largely ended the slaughter of great Christian populations,” he said.
Trump claimed thousands of Christians, including women, children and the elderly, had been killed before the strikes.
“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, hacked to death,” he said.
He also said the operation took out top terrorist leaders and warned others against carrying out more attacks.
“They know that if they go further, the attack will be far greater,” he said.
“We hit them very hard. We knocked out their leader. We knocked out their second leader and their third leader.”
Comparing the action to the United States’ approach to Iran, Trump said both were meant to prevent bigger security threats.
“It sounds a little bit like Iran, actually… because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let it happen,” he said.
Trump said his administration would continue to protect Christians around the world by using military force against terrorist groups.
“So I’m saving Christians throughout the world… I’m saving them by hitting these terrorists very violently and very hard. We know where they are. We hunt them down, and we take them out,” he said.
He also warned about what he called threats to religious freedom, saying the United States would keep confronting extremist groups wherever they operate.
