US launches strike against Daesh militants in northwest Nigeria

• The US military confirms the strike was carried out at the request of Nigeria.
• Business Targets Militants Attacking Christians: Trump.
• The US Africa Command reports that many Daesh fighters have been killed.

The United States carried out an airstrike against Daesh militants in northwestern Nigeria at the request of the Nigerian government, US President Donald Trump and the US military said on Thursday, claiming the group had targeted Christians in the region.

“Tonight, under my guidance as Commander, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS [Daesh] Terrorist scum in northwest Nigeria, violently targeting and killing mostly innocent Christians at levels not seen in many years, even centuries!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The US military’s Africa Command said the strike was carried out in Sokoto state at the request of Nigerian authorities and killed several Daesh fighters.

The blow comes after Trump, starting in late October, began warning that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened to intervene militarily in the West African country for its failure to stop violence against Christian communities.

Reuters reported on Monday that the US had been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November.

‘More’

Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the strikes were carried out as part of ongoing security cooperation with the United States, which includes intelligence sharing and strategic coordination to target militant groups.

“This led to precision strikes on terrorist targets in Nigeria by airstrikes in the northwest,” the ministry said in a post on X.

A video released by the Pentagon shows at least one missile being fired from a warship.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in X thanked the Nigerian government for its support and cooperation and added: “More…”

Nigeria’s government has said armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, and US claims that Christians face persecution do not represent a complex security situation and ignore efforts to ensure religious freedom. But he agreed to work with the US to bolster its forces against militant groups.

The country’s population is divided between Muslims who live mainly in the north and Christians in the south.

Police said earlier Thursday that a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people and wounded 35 others in northeastern Nigeria, another region wracked by militancy.

In a Christmas message published on X earlier, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu called for peace in his country, “especially between people of different religious beliefs.”

He also said, “I am committed to doing everything in my power to uphold religious freedom in Nigeria and protect Christians, Muslims and all Nigerians from violence.”

Trump issued his statement about the strike on Christmas Day while in Palm Beach, Florida, at his Mar-a-Lago Club, where he was spending the holidays. He made no public appearances during the day and was last seen by reporters traveling with him on Wednesday night.

The US military last week launched separate large-scale strikes against dozens of Daesh targets in Syria after Trump vowed to retaliate following a suspected Daesh attack on US personnel in the country.