US Launches Major Christmas Day Airstrikes on IS Targets in Nigeria

WASHINGTON— The United States military has conducted “powerful and deadly” airstrikes against Islamic State-linked militants in North-western Nigeria. The operation, carried out late on Christmas Day, marks a significant escalation in U.S. military involvement in West Africa following weeks of warnings from the Trump administration.

In a series of posts on Truth Social, President Donald Trump confirmed the strikes, labeling the targets “terrorist scum.” Trump emphasized that the intervention was a direct response to the “vicious killing of innocent Christians,” a narrative his administration has pushed aggressively since November.

“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,” Trump wrote, adding a “Merry Christmas” to the “dead terrorists.”

Despite the President’s religious framing, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar clarified to the BBC and local outlets that the strikes were a “joint operation.”

The strikes targeted camps in Sokoto State, bordering Niger.

Analysts believe the strikes hit the Lakurawa group, a relatively new IS-aligned splinter group that has recently established a base in the Northwest.

Minister Tuggar revealed he held a 19-minute call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio shortly before the operation, providing critical Nigerian intelligence.

While the Trump administration has designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” regarding religious freedom, the Nigerian government and groups like ACLED maintain that the violence affects both Muslims and Christians indiscriminately. Most victims of jihadist groups in the North remain Muslims, though the U.S. has focused its rhetoric on the protection of Christian farming communities.