Trump authorised Tomahawk missile attacks on ISIS camps; 16 precision strikes conducted with Nigerian government cooperation
US President Donald Trump says military strikes authorised by his administration have protected the Christian population in Nigeria by targeting Islamic State militants operating in the country’s northwest.
Speaking at an event in Washington on Friday, Trump stated:
“As you know, we recently struck Nigeria and largely ended the slaughter of great Christian populations. They were being butchered. Thousands and thousands of people were being killed, children, women, old people, just being slaughtered, hacked to death.”
Trump claimed the operation achieved its objectives.
“We hit them very hard. We knocked out their leader. We knocked out their second leader and their third leader,” he said.
December 2025 strikes in Sokoto
On 25 December 2025, the United States launched Tomahawk missile strikes against Islamic State camps in Sokoto state, northwest Nigeria. Sixteen precision strikes were conducted using guided missiles launched from Reaper drones.
The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the operation, stating that it resulted from “structured security cooperation” with the United States. The ministry said strikes were conducted with “full involvement of the Armed Forces of Nigeria” and “explicit approval” from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
US Africa Command announced that “multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the ISIS camps” targeted during the strikes. The specific number of casualties was not disclosed in the initial operation announcement.
Continued operations in 2026
Military operations targeting extremist groups have continued in subsequent months. In May 2026, the Nigerian Defence Headquarters announced that more than 20 ISIS and ISIS-aligned fighters were killed in joint US-Nigeria air strikes conducted in Metele, Borno state.
In June 2026, the Nigerian military, in collaboration with US Africa Command, killed 21 ISIS-aligned fighters during an air strike in Arege, Kukawa LGA of Borno state.
Trump’s broader counterterrorism commitment
Trump stated that protecting Christians is part of a wider counterterrorism strategy. “I’m saving Christians throughout the world, even though we are not in those various countries where you read about this,” he said.
Trump described the US approach to counterterrorism operations: “We know where they are. We hunt them down, and we take them out. They go into a village and they just kill everybody, it’s like crazy.”
The US president juxtaposed the Nigeria operation with concerns about Iran. “It sounds a little bit like Iran, actually. It’s all about a different cause that we have to do because we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Trump’s prior warnings to Nigeria
The December strikes followed Trump’s November 2025 warning that the US would take military action against Nigeria if the government did not stop violence against Christians. Trump stated: “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing.'”
In October 2025, Trump designated Nigeria as a country of particular concern relating to religious freedom, citing failures to stop Christian persecution.
Nigerian government response
The Nigerian government approved and cooperated with the military operations. Information Minister Mohammed Idris confirmed that the strikes were conducted with the “full involvement of the Armed Forces of Nigeria” and provided intelligence support for the operation.
The Christian Association of Nigeria’s Kaduna state secretary general, John Joseph Hayab, welcomed the strikes, stating: “We welcome any help that is toward bringing to an end the persistent killings by bandits and terrorists.”
