United States has carried out airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of the Nigerian government, U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S. military confirmed on Thursday.
Gatekeepers News reports that Trump said the strikes targeted ISIS fighters who were attacking Christian communities in the region.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched 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 wrote on Truth Social.
He added that U.S. defence officials had “executed numerous perfect strikes.”
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said on X that the airstrikes were conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities and resulted in the deaths of multiple ISIS militants in Sokoto State.
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also confirmed the operation, thanking Nigeria for its cooperation. “More to come…Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation,” he wrote on X, signing off with, “Merry Christmas!”
Trump issued his statement on Christmas Day from his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he has been spending the holiday. He had no public events scheduled and was last seen by reporters on Wednesday night.
The strikes followed repeated warnings by Trump, beginning in late October, that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria.
He had threatened possible military intervention, accusing Nigerian authorities of failing to halt violence against Christian communities.
Earlier on Thursday, Nigerian police said a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people and injured 35 others during prayers at a mosque in Maiduguri, in the country’s northeast.
In a Christmas message posted on X before Trump’s announcement, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu called for peace across the country, “especially between individuals of differing religious beliefs.”
He pledged to do “everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence.”
