The US on Friday said Nigeria had given approval for the US military to conduct strikes against ISIS in the West African country, after President Donald Trump accused the group of attacking Christians in the region.
Hours earlier, Mr Trump said on social media that “powerful and deadly” strikes in the state of Sokoto were carried out against ISIS “terrorist scum” who were “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians” in north-western Nigeria.
The US military’s Africa Command said the strike was carried out in Sokoto state in co-ordination with the Nigerian authorities and killed several ISIS militants. An earlier statement posted by the command on X said the strike had been conducted at the request of Nigerian authorities, but that statement was later removed.
According to the Nigerian newspaper The Nation, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the US and Nigeria had conducted a joint military operation.
Nigeria, which is battling several armed groups, said the US strikes were part of an exchange of intelligence and strategic co-ordination between the two countries. It was not immediately clear what damage the strikes had caused. Photos published by western news agencies showed small areas of burnt ground in an arid landscape.
“The [Pentagon] is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight – on Christmas. More to come …” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X.
The armed groups in Africa’s most populous country include at least two affiliated with ISIS, an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the north-east, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province, known locally as Lakurawa, which is prominent in the north-west.
The ministry said the strike was carried out as part of continuing security co-operation with the US, involving intelligence sharing and strategic co-ordination to strike 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 missile launched from a warship and a US defence official said about a dozen Tomahawks were fired. The strike hit militants at known ISIS camps, the US said.
The north-western area where the Christmas Day strike took place has been plagued since last year by increasing violence from members of the Lakurawa sect, a strict Sunni Islamist movement that claims affiliation with ISIS. Nigeria declared the group a terrorist organisation early this year.
In October, Mr Trump began warning that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened to intervene militarily in the West African country over what he says is its failure to stop violence against Christian communities.
The attacks are the first by US forces in Nigeria under Mr Trump. The US this year placed Nigeria back on the list of countries of “particular concern” regarding religious freedom, and has restricted visa issuance for Nigerians.
Nigeria is almost evenly divided between a Muslim-majority north and a largely Christian south. Its north-east has been in the grip of extremist violence by Boko Haram for more than 15 years. The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced two million. Nigeria’s government says extremists attack both Christians and Muslims.
The attack follows similar strikes in Syria, where the US has increased attacks on ISIS after an attack in Palmyra that killed two American troops and a US interpreter. Last week, the US launched large-scale air strikes on more than 70 targets across Syria in response to a deadly attack on American troops in Palmyra that Mr Trump blamed on ISIS.
The US has also built up its military presence in the Caribbean, with the US ordering a “complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela and carrying out strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats as Mr Trump mounts a pressure campaign against the nation’s left-wing leader Nicolas Maduro. Critics say the boat attacks are unlawful.
Includes additional reporting by news agencies
