U.S. struck IS forces in Nigeria after group targeted Christians: Trump

27 DECEMBER 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump said that the U.S. launched a “powerful and deadly” strike against Islamic State forces in Nigeria, after spending weeks accusing the West African country’s government of failing to rein in the persecution of Christians.
A Defence Department official said the U.S. worked with Nigeria to carry out the strikes, and that they had been approved by that country’s government.
Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.
Nigeria’s population of 220 million is split almost equally between Christians and Muslims.
Nigeria is battling multiple armed groups, including at least two affiliated with the Islamic State — an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the less-known Lakurawa group prominent in the northwestern states like Sokoto where the gangs use large swathes of forests connecting states as hideouts.