United States President Donald Trump said US forces conducted “powerful and deadly” strikes against Islamic State militants in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday, after he warned the group to stop killing Christians in the country.
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.”
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.
Nigeria’s government and independent analysts reject framing the country’s violence in terms of religious persecution — a narrative long used by the Christian right in the United States and Europe.
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.