The US has launched strikes against militants linked to the Islamic State group (IS) in north-western Nigeria, where militants have sought to establish a foothold.
Camps run by the group in Sokoto state, which lies on Nigeria’s border with Niger, were hit, the US military said, adding that an “initial assessment” suggested “multiple” fatalities.
US President Donald Trump said the Christmas Day strikes were “powerful and deadly” and labelled the group “terrorist scum”, saying it had been “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians”.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the BBC it was a “joint operation” and had “nothing to do with a particular religion”.
Tuggar said the strikes had been planned “for quite some time” and had used intelligence information provided by Nigeria. He also did not rule out further strikes.
Referencing the timing of the strikes, he said they did not have “anything to do with Christmas, it could be any other day – it is to do with attacking terrorists who have been killing Nigerians”.
The Nigerian government has been fighting a complex network of jihadist groups, which includes Boko Haram and IS-linked splinter groups, for several years, though the expansion into the north-west is a relatively recent development.
The Trump administration has previously accused the Nigerian government of failing to protect Christians from jihadist attacks and has claimed a “genocide” is being perpetrated.
Trump has previously labelled Nigeria a “country of particular concern”, a designation used by the US state department that provides for sanctions against countries “engaged in severe violations of religious freedom”.
The US military was ordered to prepare to intervene in Nigeria in November.
At the time, an adviser to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu told BBC News that militants had targeted people “across faiths”, and said any US military action should be carried out jointly.
Groups monitoring violence say there is no evidence to suggest that Christians are being killed more than Muslims in Nigeria, which is divided roughly evenly between followers of the two religions.
In a social media post late on Christmas Day confirming the strikes, Trump said that he would “not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper”.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that he was “grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation”.
“Merry Christmas!” he added, writing on X.
The US Department of Defense later posted a short video that appeared to show a missile being launched from a ship.
On Friday morning, the Nigerian foreign ministry said in a statement that the country’s authorities “remain engaged in structured security co-operation with international partners, including the United States of America, in addressing the persistent threat of terrorist and violent extremism”.
“This has led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes in the North West,” the statement said.
Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and IS-linked offshoots have wrought havoc in north-eastern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands of people.
Most victims have been Muslims, according to Acled, a group that analyses political violence around the world.
Nigerian human rights lawyer and conflict analyst Bulama Bukati speculated that Thursday’s strikes had targeted a relatively new IS-aligned splinter group, which originated in the Sahel region and has recently moved its fighters to Nigeria.
The largest IS-linked group in Nigeria – Islamic State West Africa Province – operates in the north-east of the country, he told BBC World Service, while the smaller group – known locally as Lakurawa – has sought to establish a base in north-western Sokoto state.
He continued: “They started slipping into Nigeria in 2018 but over the past 18 months or two years they established camps in Sokoto state and Kebbi state.
“They have been launching attacks and imposing their social laws over people in Sokoto state over the past 18 months or so.”
According to BBC Monitoring, a pro-IS social media channel has been reporting on almost daily US reconnaissance flights in Sokoto, as well as in the north-eastern state of Borno, where the Nigeria’s largest IS-linked group has its stronghold.
In central Nigeria, there are also frequent clashes between mostly Muslim herders and farming groups, who are often Christian, over access to water and pasture.
Deadly cycles of tit-for-tat attacks have also seen thousands killed – but atrocities have been committed on both sides.
The Nigeria strikes are the second major US intervention targeting IS in recent weeks.
Last week, the US said it had carried out a “massive strike” against IS in Syria.
US Central Command (Centcom) said fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery “struck more than 70 targets at multiple locations across central Syria”. Aircraft from Jordan were also involved.
Those strikes were launched in retaliation for the killing of three Americans – two soldiers and a civilian interpreter – in an ambush launched by the group.
