The United States has carried out a military strike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of the Nigerian government, a move that underscores Washington’s growing security role in West Africa and sharpens debate over religious violence in the country.
According to Reuters, the strike was confirmed on Thursday by both U.S. President Donald Trump and the U.S. military. Trump said the operation targeted ISIS militants he accused of attacking Christian communities in the region, framing the action as a decisive response to what he has described as an escalating threat to Christianity in 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,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, claiming the group had been killing Christians at levels “not seen for many years.”
The U.S. military’s Africa Command said the strike took place in Sokoto state and was carried out at the request of Nigerian authorities, killing multiple Islamic State militants. Reuters previously reported that the United States had been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November, suggesting preparations for possible military action.
Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the strike was part of ongoing security cooperation with Washington, including intelligence sharing and strategic coordination aimed at degrading militant groups. It said the collaboration had resulted in precision airstrikes on terrorist targets in the country’s northwest.
A video released by the Pentagon showed at least one projectile being launched from a U.S. warship, while a U.S. defense official said the attack hit known ISIS camps and targeted multiple militants. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked Nigeria for its cooperation in a post on X, adding pointedly, “More to come…”
The strike follows weeks of increasingly sharp rhetoric from Trump, who in late October warned that Christianity faces what he called an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened U.S. military intervention if violence against Christians continued. His comments have been met with caution in Abuja, which has repeatedly stressed that armed groups in Nigeria target both Muslims and Christians and that the security situation is more complex than sectarian narratives suggest.
Nigeria’s government maintains that claims of systematic persecution of Christians overlook broader efforts to safeguard religious freedom in a country roughly split between a predominantly Muslim north and a largely Christian south. Still, it has agreed to deepen cooperation with the United States to strengthen its fight against militant groups.
The security situation remains volatile. Police said earlier on Thursday that a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people and wounded 35 others in Nigeria’s northeast, another region plagued by Islamist insurgency. In a Christmas message, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appealed for peace, particularly among Nigerians of different faiths, and reaffirmed his commitment to protecting Muslims, Christians and all citizens from violence.
Trump announced the strike on Christmas Day while spending the holiday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The operation in Nigeria comes just days after the U.S. military launched large-scale strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria, following a suspected ISIS attack on U.S. personnel there, highlighting a broader escalation in Washington’s campaign against the militant group, Reuters reported.
