From the Liveblog of
Friday, December 26, 2025
US launches strike against ISIS militants in northwest Nigeria
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The United States carried out an airstrike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government, US President Donald Trump and the US military say, claiming the group had been targeting Christians in the region.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!,” Trump writes in a post on Truth Social.
The US military’s Africa Command says on X that the strike was conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS militants.
The strike comes after Trump, starting in late October, began warning that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened to militarily intervene in the West African country over what he says is its failure to stop violence targeting Christian communities.
Reuters reported on Monday that the US had been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November.
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 safeguard religious freedom.
But it has agreed to work with the US to bolster its forces against militant groups.
The country’s population is split between Muslims living primarily in the north and Christians in the south.
The Times of Israel Community.