US says it struck Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria

By Trevor Hunnicutt, Idrees Ali and Surbhi Misra

PALM BEACH, Florida, Dec 25 (Reuters) - The United States carried out a strike against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria's government, President Donald Trump and the U.S. military said on Thursday, 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 said in a post on Truth Social.

The U.S. military’s Africa Command said the strike was carried out in Sokoto state in coordination with Nigerian authorities and killed multiple ISIS militants.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the British Broadcasting Corp the strike was a "joint operation" targeting "terrorists", and it "has nothing to do with a particular religion".

Without naming ISIS specifically, Tuggar said the operation had been planned "for quite some time" and had used intelligence information provided by the Nigerian side. He did not rule out further strikes, adding that this depended on "decisions to be taken by the leadership of the two countries".

The strike comes after Trump 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 the U.S. had been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November.

'MORE TO COME'

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

"This has led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes in the North West," the ministry said in a post on X.

A video posted by the Pentagon showed at least one projectile launched from a warship. A U.S. defense official said the strike targeted multiple militants at known ISIS camps.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked the Nigerian government on X for its support and cooperation and added: “More to come...”

Nigeria's government has said armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, and U.S. claims that Christians face persecution do not represent the complex security situation and ignore efforts to safeguard religious freedom. But it has agreed to work with the U.S. 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.

Police said earlier on Thursday a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people and injured 35 others at a mosque in Nigeria's northeast, another region troubled by Islamist insurgents.

In a Christmas message posted on X earlier, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu called for peace in his country, "especially between individuals of differing religious beliefs."

He also said: "I stand committed to doing everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence."  

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

The U.S. military last week launched separate large-scale strikes against dozens of Islamic State targets in Syria, after Trump vowed to hit back in the wake of a suspected ISIS attack on U.S. personnel in the country.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Idrees Ali, Surbhi Misra and Simon Lewis; additional reporting by Donna Bryson and Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Chris Reese and Michael Perry)