US strikes ISIS in Nigeria after Trump warnings on Christian killings

US forces struck Islamic State targets in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday evening, the U.S. and Nigerian governments said, acting after threats by President Donald Trump to attack the country in an effort to stop the killing of Christians.

Trump said in a Truth Social post that the military conducted “multiple strikes” but did not elaborate. In a follow-up social media post, U.S. Africa Command said multiple people that it said were Islamic State terrorists were killed in strikes in Sokoto state, which is in the northwestern part of the country bordering Niger and has become a hot spot for a resurgence in violent extremism and the kidnapping of schoolchildren.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues,” Trump posted to social media.

The Pentagon said the Nigerian government approved the strikes and worked with the United States to carry them out.

U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that the strikes were carried out at the direction of Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, said strikes were conducted at two locations in Sokoto state targeting Islamic State-Sahel Province, an African branch of the extremist group.

A spokesperson for the Nigerian Foreign Ministry confirmed the U.S. strike Thursday evening, saying that “precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes” had been carried out in response to the “persistent threat of terrorism and violent extremism.”

“Terrorist violence of any form, whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities, remains an affront to Nigeria’s values,” said the statement from spokesperson Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa.

For months, Trump and Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Reps. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, and Riley Moore of West Virginia have raised alarms about killings of Christians in Nigeria amid larger ethnic and religious bloodshed. Trump had previously directed the Pentagon to plan potential military action in Nigeria, and earlier this month, the State Department restricted visas for Nigerians involved in the violence.

Trump threatened an attack in Nigeria early last month, writing on his Truth Social site: “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”

His post followed a meeting in Washington between top advisers and representatives of religious groups, and after he watched a Fox News segment on the topic on board Air Force One, The Washington Post reported. The push to make the issue an administration priority was long in the making, according to three people with knowledge of the situation, but the president’s threat of military action was entirely unexpected, they said.

The Council on Foreign Relations reported earlier this year that the Sahel, a region that spans multiple countries across Central Africa, including Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Chad, and Sudan, has seen a significant uptick in the growth of violent extremist organizations as a result of decreased international counterterrorism support.

U.S. forces lost access to key counterterrorism bases in Niger and Chad in 2024. In their place, a surge of proxy military groups such as the Russian-backed Wagner Group have filled in.

But the Trump administration has been looking at ways to reduce the U.S. role in Africa overall as it shifts to a strategy that will focus more military assets and attention to the Western Hemisphere. The administration is also looking at potentially consolidating U.S. Africa Command into a theater command that would also include U.S. European Command and U.S. Central Command, which could further reduce the attention and resources the region would receive.

That proposal drew concern from some lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Connecticut, who cautioned against the U.S. pulling back given Africa’s young and quickly growing population and economic importance.

Nigeria is a diverse, multiethnic country split between the mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south. The country’s 230 million people, Africa’s largest population, are roughly split between Christians and Muslims. While violence has sometimes targeted Christians, it has also deeply affected Muslims, according to Nigerian and Western analysts.

Most violence in Nigeria has taken place in the northeast, where the extremist group Boko Haram has regularly attacked churches and kidnapped children for more than a decade as part of its campaign to build an Islamist state through violence.