Nigeria provided US with intelligence for strikes on Islamist militants, says foreign minister – US politics live

Nigeria provided US with intelligence for strikes on militants, foreign minister says Nigeria’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar.Photograph: Light Oriye Tamunotonye/AFP/Getty Images Nigeria provided the US with intelligence on jihadists before the strikes that took place in the country on Christmas Day, its foreign ministry said on Friday. On Thursday, the US president, Donald Trump, said the US military had carried out strikes against Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria, after spending weeks decrying the group for targeting Christians. In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president said: “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries! “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.” Now, Nigerian foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, has told broadcaster ChannelsTV that he was on the phone with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and that Nigeria “provided” the intelligence. “We spoke twice. We spoke for 19 minutes before the strike and then we spoke again for another five minutes before it went on,” Tuggar said. He added that they spoke “extensively” and that President Bola Tinubu gave “the go-ahead” to launch the strikes. Nigeria’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar. Photograph: Light Oriye Tamunotonye/AFP/Getty Images Tuggar did not rule out further strikes, describing them as an “ongoing process” that would also involve other countries. In an interview with the BBC, Tuggar insisted the strikes had “nothing to do with a particular religion”. He said the operation did not have “anything to do with Christmas, it could be any other day - it is to do with attacking terrorists who have been killing Nigerians”. Nigerians across Sokoto state told of their shock at Christmas Day strikes by the United States. Agence France-Presse spoke to people around Jabo town, who said that their area was sometimes a target of armed “bandit” gangs and jihadists, but was not a stronghold for the groups. “We heard a loud explosion which shook the whole town and everyone was scared,” said Haruna Kallah from Jabo, some 60 miles (100km) south of Sokoto city near the Niger border. Donald Trump has claimed there are mass killing of Christians in the country’s armed conflicts. The Nigerian government and independent analysts reject this framing, noting the west African country faces interlinked security crises that kill both Christian and Muslim civilians. Kallah told AFP he originally thought the attack was carried out by Lakurawa, the main jihadist group in Sokoto state, adding that there had not been an attack in about two years. Villagers reportedly found burning fragments from the bombardment on the outskirts of the town. Ayuba Abdulkarim, another Jabo resident, said: “There was...

Preview: ~500 words