-Trump’s ‘Merry Christmas’ Attack on ISIS in Nigeria
- President of the United States (US) Donald Trump announced an attack on ISIS in Nigeria.
- Reported AFPFriday (26/12/2025), Trump said US troops carried out devastating and deadly attacks against ISIS militants in Nigeria.
- Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the airstrike and described it as a 'targeted strike against a terrorist target'.
President of the United States (US) Donald Trump announced an attack on ISIS in Nigeria. The attack occurred on Christmas Day.
Reported AFPFriday (26/12/2025), Trump said US troops carried out devastating and deadly attacks against ISIS militants in Nigeria. The attack was launched after he warned that there would be action from the US against attacks on Christians in the country.
The attack coincided with Christmas, Thursday (25/12). Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the airstrike and described it as a ‘targeted strike against a terrorist target’.
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The US Department of Defense Africa Command said ‘several ISIS terrorists’ were killed in an attack in Sokoto state. The US said the attack was carried out at the request of Nigerian authorities. However, the US did not explain how many people died.
“I have previously warned these terrorists that if they did not stop the massacre of Christians, there would be dire consequences, and tonight, they happened,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump included a Merry Christmas greeting in his upload. He said attacks would continue if what he called the massacre of Christians in Nigeria continued.
“May God bless our military. MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead terrorists, who will be many more if their massacre of Christians continues,” he said.
This attack was the first carried out by US troops in Nigeria under the Trump administration. The attacks came after Trump unexpectedly criticized the west African country in October and November.
He said Christians in Nigeria face an ‘existential threat’ equivalent to ‘genocide’ amid various armed conflicts in Nigeria. The attack was welcomed by some but interpreted by others as fueling religious tensions in Africa’s most populous country.
The Nigerian government and independent analysts refuse to frame the violence in the context of religious persecution like the narrative used by right-wing Christian groups in the US and Europe. However, Trump still considers it a persecution of Christians.
He stressed Washington was ready to take military action in Nigeria with ‘guns ready to fire’ to counter the killings. Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country was engaged with international partners in fighting terrorism.
“Nigerian authorities remain engaged in structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States, in addressing the persistent threat of terrorism and violent extremism,” the ministry said in a statement.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said via X that he was ‘grateful for the Nigerian government’s support and cooperation’. The United States has re-added Nigeria to its list of countries of ‘particular concern’ regarding religious freedom, and has restricted the issuance of visas to Nigerians.
Nigeria is almost evenly divided between the Muslim-majority north and the mostly Christian south. Its northeastern region has been hit by jihadist violence for more than 15 years by the Boko Haram group that has claimed more than 40,000 lives and displaced two million people.
At the same time, much of the country’s northwestern, northern and central regions have been hit by criminal gangs known as ‘bandits’ who attack villages, killing and kidnapping residents. On Wednesday, an explosion rocked a mosque in the northeastern city of Maiduguri and killed at least seven worshipers.
See also the video ‘Facts of Bomb Explosion at Nigerian Mosque, 7 Dead-35 Injured’:
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