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A United States lawmaker has said that air strikes carried out against Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of the Nigerian government were “just the first step to ending the slaughter of Christians and the security crisis affecting all Nigerians.”
Representative Riley M. Moore said in a post on X on Friday that President Donald Trump “has been clear that the killing of Christians in Nigeria must end.”
“As I stated at the outset: Do not test President Trump‘s resolved in this matter,” Moore said.
“Tonight’s strike in coordination with the Nigerian government is just the first step to ending the slaughter of Christians and the security crisis affecting all Nigerians.”
The US military’s US Africa Command had confirmed that the strike was carried out in Sokoto State in coordination with Nigerian authorities and killed multiple Islamic State militants.
“At the direction of the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, and in coordination with Nigerian authorities, U.S. Africa Command conducted strikes against ISIS terrorists in Nigeria on Dec. 25, 2025, in Sokoto State.” U.S. Africa Command wrote on X.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday that the strikes were ordered by him as commander in chief, saying, “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!,”
He stated that he had warned the militants to stop the attacks, adding that “if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”
Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry also confirmed the airstrikes, noting that the strikes were “precision hits on terrorist targets” and were done in line with international law, with a focus on protecting civilians.
The ministry said all counter-terrorism efforts are guided by “the primacy of protecting civilian lives, safeguarding national unity, and upholding the rights and dignity of all citizens, irrespective of faith or ethnicity.”
“Terrorist violence in any form, whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities, remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security,” the ministry added.
