December 26, 2025, 06:33December 26, 2025, 06:33
According to President Donald Trump, the US military carried out deadly attacks on fighters from the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia in Nigeria over Christmas who are said to have murdered Christians. The military strikes took place in the northwest of the country, the Republican wrote on the Truth Social platform on Thursday (local time). He did not disclose the number of deaths.
Trump threatened military strikes weeks ago.Image: keystone
Trump threatened that many more terrorists would be killed if the “slaughter” of Christians continued. He also wrote in capital letters: “Merry Christmas to everyone, including the killed terrorists.” In the USA, Christmas is traditionally celebrated on December 25th.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on Platform X that the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria and elsewhere must end. He thanked the Nigerian government for their support and cooperation.
Trump threatened military strikes weeks ago
At the beginning of November, the US President had already threatened military strikes in the West African country. Even back then, he cited the reason that Islamist terrorists were killing Christians there. Trump specifically addressed the Nigerian government and warned that if it allowed further bloodshed, the United States would immediately stop all aid to the continent’s most populous country and intervene there itself to root out the perpetrators of these atrocities. At that time, Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu emphasized: “Nigeria rejects and does not promote religious persecution.”
At that time, the USA classified Nigeria as a country in which particularly serious violations of religious freedom occurred (Country of Particular Concern). Countries such as China and Russia are also on the list. President Tinubu, however, denied that Nigeria is a religiously intolerant country – such claims do not reflect reality and do not take into account government efforts to protect the freedom of religion and belief of all Nigerians.
“Most dangerous country in the world for Christians”
Conflicts and violence in the country, whose more than 220 million inhabitants are about half Christian or Muslim, are actually increasingly running along religious dividing lines – but experts usually do not see these as the cause. Christian communities still accuse the state of lacking protection.
The US non-governmental organization International Christian Concern, which documents the persecution of Christians worldwide, described Nigeria as the “most dangerous country in the world for Christians” in 2022. At the same time, Muslims there are also victims of terrorist or bandit attacks as well as acts of revenge.
Mass kidnappings of Christian students and teachers
At the end of November there was a particularly extreme wave of mass kidnappings in northwest Nigeria. Hundreds of children and numerous teachers were abducted from a Catholic primary and secondary school, the Christian Association of Nigeria said at the time. Kidnappings have become a terrible everyday occurrence in the north and center of the country: both criminal gangs and Islamist terrorist groups repeatedly kidnap people.
This is not the first time that the US military has attacked Islamist terrorists in Africa. IS positions in Somalia were bombed several times in 2024 – before Trump took office – and again this year. Some US attacks in the East African country were also aimed at the terrorist militia Al-Shabaab, which is part of the Al-Qaeda network, which is hostile to IS. (sda/dpa/cst)