Closing summary
This is it from the US politics live team for today. Here are the main developments of the day at a glance:
Nigeria has confirmed it provided intelligence to the US ahead of Christmas Day strikes authorized by Donald Trump. The country’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said he spoke to the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, before and after the strikes and confirmed Nigeria’s president had given the “go-ahead”.
After Thursday’s strikes, Nigeria’s foreign ministry praised the cooperation with the US, but pointedly refused to acknowledge US actions had anything to do with the persecution of Christians.
Members of Donald Trump’s party welcomed the strikes as a sign of the US president’s resolve. West Virginia congressman Riley Moore wrote on X: “President Trump has been clear that the killing of Christians in Nigeria must end. As I stated at the outset: Do not test President Trump‘s resolved [stet] in this matter. Tonight’s strike in coordination with the Nigerian government is just the first step to ending the slaughter of Christians and the security crisis affecting all Nigerians.” Arkansas senator Tom Cotton wrote to “commend President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, and our brave troops for these strikes against bloodthirsty ISIS”.
The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has warned of new strikes against Islamic State targets in north-western Nigeria. Writing on X, he said: “The president was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end. The [Pentagon] is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight – on Christmas. More to come …
Updated
The US strikes did not hit anyone and landed in an empty farmland, the Guardian understands.
However, what is being spoken about on the ground is that the Nigerian air force mistakenly bombed an area just an hour away from the same place last Christmas, killing at least 10 people.
These airstrikes affected residents of the Gidan Sama and Rumtuwa communities in the Silame local government area of the north-western Sokoto state.
Sources told the media that the communities are located near Surame Forest, a known hideout for bandits.
The villagers only received compensation five days ago, according to the air force’s Facebook page.
“Recounting the circumstances of the incident, the [chief of the air staff] explained that the air operation was conducted under Operation Fasan Yamma following intelligence on suspected terrorists transiting through the affected communities,” the post read.
Updated
