Trump says US struck Islamic State targets in Nigeria after group
targeted Christians
[December 26, 2025]
By WILL WEISSERT
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that
the U.S. launched a “powerful and deadly" strike against Islamic State
forces in Nigeria, after spending weeks accusing the West African
country's government of failing to rein in the persecution of
Christians.
In a Christmas evening post on his social media site, Trump did not
provide details or mention the extent of the damage caused by the
strikes in Sokoto state.
A Defense Department official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss
details not made public, said the U.S. worked with Nigeria to carry out
the strikes, and that they'd been approved by that country's government.
Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the cooperation included
exchange of intelligence and strategic coordination in ways “consistent
with international law, mutual respect for sovereignty and shared
commitments to regional and global security."
Trump said the airstrikes were launched against Islamic State militants
“who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent
Christians.” Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria's
security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and
Muslims, who are the majority in the north.
“Terrorist violence in any form, whether directed at Christians, Muslims
or other communities, remains an affront to Nigeria's values and to
international peace and security," Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
said.
Nigeria is battling multiple armed groups, including at least two
affiliated with the Islamic State — an offshoot of the Boko Haram
extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the
northeast, and the less-known Lakurawa group prominent in the
northwestern states like Sokoto where the gangs use large swathes of
forests connecting states as hideouts.
Security analysts said the target of the U.S. strikes could be the
Lakurawa group, which in the last year has increasingly become lethal in
the region, often targeting remote communities and security forces.
“Lakurawa is a group that is actually controlling territories in
Nigeria, in Sokoto state and in other states like Kebbi,” said Malik
Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher at Good Governance Africa. “In
the northwest, there has been the incursion of violent extremist groups
that are ideologically driven," he said, blaming the incursion on the
near absence of the state and security forces in hot spots.
Nigeria’s government has previously said in response to Trump’s
criticisms that people of many faiths, not just Christians, have
suffered attacks at the hands of extremists groups.
Trump ordered the Pentagon last month to begin planning for potential
military action in Nigeria to try and curb the so-called Christian
persecution. The State Department recently announced it would restrict
visas for Nigerians and their family members involved in killing
Christians there.
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President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec.
22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
And the U.S. recently designated Nigeria a “country of particular
concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act.
Trump said the U.S. defense officials had “executed numerous perfect
strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing" and added
that “our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to
prosper.”
Nigeria’s population of 220 million is split almost equally between
Christians and Muslims. The country has long faced insecurity from
various fronts including the Boko Haram extremist group, which seeks
to establish its radical interpretation of Islamic law and has also
targeted Muslims it deems not Muslim enough.
But attacks in Nigeria often have varying motives. There are
religiously motivated ones targeting both Christians and Muslims,
clashes between farmers and herders over dwindling resources,
communal rivalries, secessionist groups and ethnic clashes.
The U.S. security footprint has diminished in Africa, where military
partnerships have either been scaled down or canceled. U.S. forces
likely would have to be drawn from other parts of the world for any
larger-scale military intervention in Nigeria.
Trump has nonetheless kept up the pressure as Nigeria faced a series
of attacks on schools and churches in violence that experts and
residents say targets both Christians and Muslims.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted Thursday night on X: “The
President was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians
in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end.”
Hegseth said that U.S. military forces are “always ready, so ISIS
found out tonight — on Christmas” and added, “More to come…Grateful
for Nigerian government support & cooperation” before signing off,
“Merry Christmas!”
___
Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed from
Washington, and Chinedu Asadu from Abuja, Nigeria.
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