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Trump says U.S. struck Islamic State targets in Nigeria after group targeted Christians

Published: 26 Dec. 2025, 09:02

U.S. President Donald Trump pumps his fist at Christmas Eve dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Dec. 24. [AP/YONHAP]

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday night that he’d launched a “powerful and deadly strike” against Islamic State forces in Nigeria, after he spent weeks decrying the group for targeting Christians.

“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!” the president posted on his social media site.

Last month, Trump said he’d ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria following the claims of Christian persecution. The State Department then announced in recent weeks that it would restrict visas for Nigerians and their family members involved in mass killings and violence against Christians in the West African country.

The U.S. recently designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act.

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” Trump wrote in his Christmas night post. He said that U.S. defense officials had “executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.”

The president added: “our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper.”

AP