WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the US military launched a "powerful and deadly" strike against the Islamic State (IS) in northwestern Nigeria.

"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!" Trump said on social media platform Truth Social.

"The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes," Trump wrote, vowing that the United States will not allow radical Islamic terrorism to prosper.

READ MORE: Nigeria: Islamic State suspected behind church massacre

On Oct 31, Trump claimed on Truth Social that thousands of Christians were being killed in Nigeria by "radical Islamists," declaring Nigeria was a "country of particular concern."

Although the Nigerian government immediately rejected Trump's claims, saying that the accusations "do not reflect the situation on the ground" and vowing to fight terrorism, Trump accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to prevent the killing of Christians.

In a post on Nov 1, Trump threatened that the US forces "may very well go into" Nigeria to "completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities."

READ MORE: Suicide bomber kills at least 24 in northeast Nigeria attack

Days later, the Economic Community of West African States described Trump's allegations that terrorist attacks in Nigeria were targeted at Christians as "false and dangerous," expressing solidarity with the region's most populous country.