CITIZENS COMPASS— President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, on Friday, claimed responsibility for deadly US airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in north-western Nigeria, issuing a chilling Christmas Day warning that more attacks will follow if the killing of Christians continues.
In a provocative statement on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump said US forces carried out what he described as “numerous perfect strikes” against Islamic State targets, calling the militants “scum” and declaring that there was now “hell to pay.”
“I have previously warned these terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be consequences,” Trump wrote. “Tonight, there was.”
He added: “May God bless our Military. MERRY CHRISTMAS to all — including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
While Trump offered no operational details, United States Africa Command confirmed in a post on X that it conducted a strike “at the request of Nigerian authorities,” resulting in the killing of multiple ISIS fighters.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also praised the action, thanking the Nigerian government for its “support and cooperation” and signalling Washington’s readiness to intervene militarily in Nigeria when deemed necessary.
The strikes are the first known US military attacks in Nigeria under Trump, marking an unprecedented escalation in America’s involvement in the country’s internal security challenges.
They follow months of heated rhetoric from Trump, who in October and November accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christians, alleging an “existential threat” that he described as tantamount to genocide.
While some Christian groups welcomed the hardline stance, critics warned that Trump’s framing risks inflaming religious tensions in Africa’s most populous nation — a country with a long history of sectarian violence.
The Nigerian government and independent security analysts have consistently rejected portraying the country’s insecurity as a religious war, arguing instead that it is driven by criminal insurgency, banditry, and state capacity failures rather than faith-based persecution.
Still, Trump’s Christmas Day strikes — and his blunt language — have thrust Nigeria into the centre of a highly charged global debate over terrorism, religion, and foreign military intervention.
—GWG
