By Johnathan Paoli
President Donald Trump has ordered what he described as “powerful and deadly” US military strikes against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in north-western Nigeria, marking the first direct US attack in the country under his presidency and intensifying a controversial diplomatic and security campaign focused on alleged persecution of Christians.
The strikes were carried out on Thursday in Sokoto state at the request of the Nigerian government, according to the US Department of Defense’s Africa Command (Africom).
Africom said “multiple ISIS terrorists” were killed during the operation, which it described as being conducted in close coordination with Nigerian authorities. No casualty figures were released, and neither side provided details on the specific targets hit.
Trump announced the attack in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform on Christmas Day, using inflammatory language to justify the action.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, 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. I 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 wrote.
In a further post, Trump added: “Merry Christmas to all, including the dead terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
The statements immediately drew international attention for their tone and for framing Nigeria’s complex security crisis primarily as religious persecution.
US defence officials later released video footage appearing to show the nighttime launch of a missile from the deck of a US naval vessel, though they did not confirm the platform used or whether the footage was directly linked to the Nigeria strike.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the air strikes early on Friday, describing them as “precision hits on terrorist targets” carried out as part of ongoing security cooperation with international partners.
The ministry stressed that Abuja remained engaged in “structured security cooperation” with allies, including the United States, to address terrorism and violent extremism.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told journalists that the operation was a joint action targeting terrorists and “has nothing to do with a particular religion”.
He said the strikes had been planned “for quite some time” and were based on intelligence supplied by Nigerian authorities.
Tuggar did not rule out further joint operations, saying future action would depend on decisions by the leadership of both countries.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed the cooperation, posting on X that he was “grateful for Nigerian government support and cooperation”.
The strike follows weeks of escalating rhetoric from Trump, who in October and November accused Nigeria of allowing an “existential threat” to Christianity and even claimed Christians were facing “genocide”, assertions strongly rejected by Nigeria’s government and many independent analysts.
While some Nigerian Christian groups welcomed US attention to insecurity, critics warned that Trump’s framing risked inflaming religious tensions in Africa’s most populous country, which has a history of sectarian violence.
Nigeria is roughly evenly divided between a Muslim-majority north and a predominantly Christian south.
Its security challenges, however, are widely seen as driven more by insurgency, criminality, and resource conflicts than by religion alone.
Jihadist violence in the northeast, led by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million since 2009, with Muslims comprising the majority of victims, according to conflict monitoring groups.
In the northwest and central regions, heavily armed criminal gangs known as “bandits” routinely raid villages, killing and kidnapping civilians regardless of faith.
Despite this, the United States this year redesignated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” over religious freedom and imposed visa restrictions on Nigerian nationals.
Trump has also threatened to cut all US aid to Abuja if, in his words, Nigeria “continues to allow the killing of Christians”.
The strike also comes amid a spike in violence elsewhere in the country.
On Wednesday, an explosion ripped through a mosque in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least seven worshippers.
Police later said a suspected suicide bomber had killed at least five people and injured dozens.
No group immediately claimed responsibility.
In a Christmas message posted on X, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu called for peace and unity, urging Nigerians to reject religious hatred.
“I stand committed to doing everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence,” he said.
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