The United States launched a number of strikes against the Islamic State (ISIS)in northwestern Nigeria, President Trump announced on Thursday, the latest American military campaign against a nonstate adversary — in this case, Islamic jihadis who the president asserts have been slaughtering Christians.
President Trump said in a post on Truth Social that “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!”
The Department of Defense said “multiple ISIS terrorists” were killed in an attack conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities, but few details were provided.
The strikes hit IS targets on Christmas Day, according to Trump.
“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,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“May God Bless our Military,” he said, adding, “MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
The US Africa Command said in an X post that it conducted a strike “at the request of Nigerian authorities in (Sokoto state) killing multiple ISIS terrorists.”
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth also took to X to praise his department’s readiness to take action in Nigeria, and said he was “grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation.”
READ ALSO: Maiduguri Mosque Bombing: Police deploy 1,000 officers to Borno
The attacks mark the first by US forces in Nigeria under Trump, and come after the Republican leader unexpectedly berated Nigeria in October and November, saying Christians in the country faced an “existential threat” that amounted to “genocide”.
The diplomatic offensive was welcomed by some but interpreted by others as inflaming religious tensions in Africa’s most populous country, which has seen bouts of sectarian violence in the past.
At the direction of the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, and in coordination with Nigerian authorities, U.S. Africa Command conducted strikes against ISIS terrorists in Nigeria on Dec. 25, 2025, in Sokoto State.
— U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) (@USAfricaCommand) December 26, 2025
The U.S. operation inside Africa’s most populous nation followed months of growing allegations by Christian evangelical groups and senior Republicans that Christians were being targeted in widespread violence.
An insurgency there has gone on for more than a decade, killing thousands of Christians and Muslims across sectarian lines. The Nigerian authorities have rejected allegations of a Christian genocide, noting that the web of violent armed groups, with different motives and spread across the country, kills as many Muslims as Christians.
But Trump, spotlighting what his administration says is global persecution of Christians, stressed that Washington was ready to take military action in Nigeria to counter such killings.
The United States this year placed Nigeria back on the list of countries of “particular concern” regarding religious freedom, and has restricted the issuance of visas to Nigerians.