​​​​​​​ISTANBUL

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Tuesday “strongly” rejected US allegations that Nigeria allows terrorists to kill Christians.

The West African bloc dismissed the “false and dangerous claims that seek to deepen insecurity in communities and weaken social cohesion in the region,” it said in a statement on US social media platform Facebook.

It came after US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that if the Nigerian government "continues to allow the killing of Christians," Washington would immediately cut all aid. Trump said the US could “go into that now disgraced country, 'guns-a-blazing.’”

ECOWAS said terror attacks in the region target civilians of all faiths, including Muslims, Christians, and followers of other religions, and independent reports over the years show the violence does not discriminate by gender, religion, ethnicity, or age.

ECOWAS urged the UN and all partners to support its members in counter-terrorism and to "treat as false any claims that these terrorist groups target one group, or that there is a genocide of one religious group in the region."

It urged the world to back West African countries in the fight against terrorism targeting “all communities.”