The United States has launched \u201cpowerful and deadly\u201d strikes against groups it claims are affiliated with ISIL (ISIS) in Nigeria, President Donald Trump said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The unprecedented Christmas Day strikes came after weeks of accusations from Trump and top Republicans about an alleged \u201cChristian genocide\u201d they say has been enabled by the Nigerian government. They represent the first known direct US military intervention in the troubled, conflict-racked country.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Neither side has shared precise information about the identity of the targets struck and the results of the strikes. Security analyst Kabir Adamu from Beacon Security and Intelligence in Abuja told Al Jazeera the likely targets are members of \u201cLakurawa\u201d, an armed group linked to an offshoot of ISIL, and which has only recently become known. Its profile is still being studied by researchers.<\/p>\n One town which appeared to have been hit was Jabo in the northwestern Sokoto State, but no ISIL-linked cells are known to operate there. Furthermore, when Trump and other US right wingers have referred to a \u201cChristian genocide\u201d In Nigeria, they have usually mentioned an entirely different area in central Nigeria.<\/p>\n Launching the strikes on Christmas Day and on locations in northwest Nigeria, where the Sokoto Caliphate, responsible for the spread of Islam into Nigeria and revered by Nigerian muslims, is highly symbolic, analyst Femi Owolade of the UK\u2019s Sheffield Hallam University told Al Jazeera, and plays into the Trump administration\u2019s narrative of \u201csaving\u201d Nigerian Christians.<\/p>\n \u201cStriking on Christmas Day reinforces perceptions of a religiously motivated confrontation or a renewed religious \u2018crusade\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we know about the strikes:<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump revealed in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday that the US had launched \u201cnumerous perfect\u201d strikes on \u201cISIS positions\u201d in northwest Nigeria.<\/p>\n \u201cTonight, 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!\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Trump did not disclose details about which or how many targets were hit, but he added that they would continue if the alleged slaughter of Christians did not stop.<\/p>\n The US Africa Command said in a statement that an initial assessment of the strikes had revealed \u201cmultiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the ISIS camps\u201d.<\/p>\n US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth thanked Nigeria for cooperating with the strikes. The (US) \u201cis always ready, so ISIS found out tonight \u2013 on Christmas. More to come\u2026,\u201d he posted on social media platform X.<\/p>\n In another post on X, the US Defense Department shared a video showing what appeared to be the moment a bomb was fired from a US warship in an unmarked location. Conflict analyst Murtala Abdullahi of the Goro Initiative, who tracks aerial activity in Nigeria, said it was likely that the US had launched missiles from a position in the Gulf of Guinea.<\/p>\n In a statement on Friday morning, Nigeria\u2019s Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed the attacks and said they targeted elements based in the northwest of the country.<\/p>\n Nigerian authorities have vehemently denied allegations of a \u201cChristian genocide\u201d, and said the strikes had been carried out within an international cooperation framework that allows the sharing of intelligence and strategic coordination with the US and others, \u201cconsistent with international law, mutual respect for sovereignty and shared commitments to regional and global security\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking to Al Jazeera, Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar said both parties closely cooperated on the attack and that the US Secretary of State had called him before the strikes were launched. Tuggar, however, added that Nigeria faces a complex security challenge that is also affecting other countries in the region, and that the strikes were not religion-based.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a regional conflict, it is not a Nigeria Christian-Muslim conflict,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n At least one town \u2013 Jabo in Nigeria\u2019s northwestern Sokoto State \u2013 was confirmed to have been hit, analyst Adamu said. Photos shared on social media by residents there appear to confirm the location, with some posting what appear to be fragments of a bomb and others posting videos of a large fire on a farm. The information could not be independently verified by Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were no casualties as of this morning,\u201d Adamu said, adding that it\u2019s unclear why Jabo was chosen, as there are no known ISIL-linked terror cells there.<\/p>\n Locals on social media also questioned why their town had been targeted.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Nigerian Foreign Ministry told Al Jazeera that the strikes had been carried out based on intelligence provided by Nigeria.<\/p>\n \u201cThe air strikes covered a precise area, and what people are seeing are fragments that fell in Jabo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Yes, about six ideological armed groups exist in Nigeria, all of them linked to either ISIL (ISIS) or al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n They have targeted both Christian and Muslim communities in their areas of operation in the country\u2019s predominantly Muslim northeast and northwest regions.<\/p>\n The strikes on Thursday likely targeted a faction called Lakurawa, which has recently emerged, and whose profile is still not fully known.<\/p>\n Here are some of the factions explained:<\/p>\n Boko Haram:<\/strong> The most recognised armed group is Boko Haram, which is based in Borno State, northeast Nigeria.<\/p>\n The group gained international notoriety for kidnapping 300 school girls from their dormitory in Chibok, Borno State, under the leadership of Ibrahim Shekau in 2014.<\/p>\n It was most active between 2012 and 2015. At the height of its activities, the group targeted military installations and civilians around Borno and the neighbouring Yobe and Adamawa states. It also spread across porous borders into Cameroon, Niger and Chad.<\/p>\n Boko Haram used suicide bombing and mass kidnapping tactics against both Christian and Muslim communities, attacking churches and mosques alike. Its main hideout was the Sambisa Forest in Borno, but it also controlled large swaths of rural territory where it taxed locals and operated as a government.<\/p>\n At least 30,000 people died, and millions were displaced at the height of Boko Haram\u2019s operations. The group has been largely deflated by infighting and pressure from the Nigerian military. Since 2015, it has lost much of the territory it controlled.<\/p>\n ISWAP:<\/strong> The ISIL-affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) broke away from Boko Haram in 2016 following disagreements between top military leaders. The two groups have maintained a violent rivalry.<\/p>\n ISWAP is believed to have between 8,000 and 12,000 fighters, according to the United Nations. It is currently active around the Lake Chad basin area in northeast Nigeria, and has active cells in the northwest of the country.<\/p>\n It controls local communities, where it attempts to win support by providing basic amenities while taxing local farmers and fishermen.<\/p>\n Lakurawa:<\/strong> A newly emerged faction, the group operates in remote parts of the country\u2019s northwest Sokoto State, including in the Tangaza, Gudu, Illela, Binji and Silame local governments. It is also present in northwest Zamfara and Kebbi states.<\/p>\n Jabo, which is located in Sokoto and was struck on Thursday, is known for harbouring bandits, but analysts say there\u2019s no strong presence of Lakurawa or other ISIL cells in the town.<\/p>\n Nigerian officials confirmed the group\u2019s existence in November 2024 and designated it a terror group in January.<\/p>\n Before its emergence, ragtag bandit groups had been targeting remote communities in Sokoto and neighbouring Zamfara. In 2017, local leaders invited armed fighters from Mali and Niger, mostly from the Fulani pastoral ethnic group, to fight the bandits, as government presence was failing to deter them, according to researchers James Barnett and Vincent Foucher. However, some of the arriving fighters were affiliated with armed groups operating in Niger and Mali, including the ISIL in Sahel Province (ISSP), also known as Islamic State Greater Sahara (ISGS).<\/p>\n By 2018, the fighters had moved on from rescuing victims from bandits to enforcing Islamic law on villages.<\/p>\n Lakurawa elements have since grown bolder and more lethal in recent years, targeting security outposts.<\/p>\n Researchers do not believe there is a single, homogenous Lakurawa group, but suggest that many factions are being clumped together by the government, potentially hampering an effective response. Some also say the group\u2019s alllegiance could be to al-Qaeda, rather than ISIL.<\/p>\n In 2024, a United Nations Security Council report confirmed the presence of ISGS affiliates in northwest Nigeria\u2019s Sokoto State. It\u2019s unclear to what extent ISWAP and Lakurawa coordinate.<\/p>\n President Trump maintains that the US strikes have been carried out to protect Christian communities in Nigeria.<\/p>\n United States Senator Ted Cruz first accused Nigeria\u2019s government of enabling a \u201cmassacre\u201d against Christians in October 2025, citing a rising number of attacks against the community in the country\u2019s central Middle Belt region, which is separate from the violence in the north. He claimed, without proof, that 50,000 Christians had been killed since 2009. In September, he introduced the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act which, if it passes Congress, would sanction Nigerian officials seen as complicit in the killings of Christians.<\/p>\n Cruz was echoing claims from within the Christian political right in the US of a Christian genocide in Nigeria for the past few years.<\/p>\n Then, in November, Trump also accused Nigeria of a Christian genocide, referring to ISIL, and appearing to link the two separate issues. He also referred to Nigeria as a \u201cCountry of National Concern\u201d.<\/p>\n But while Cruz and other far-right US voices identified the Middle Belt region of Nigeria as the site of the alleged \u201cChristian genocide\u201d, the US strikes on Thursday targeted a town in Nigeria\u2019s predominantly Muslim north. Jabo is a largely Muslim town, and Muslim communities there have been the targets of bandits who kidnap them for ransom.<\/p>\n The situation in Nigeria is far more complex than has been presented by the Trump administration, which appears to conflate two separate issues.<\/p>\n Nigeria is a vast country of 200 million people from more than 250 ethnic groups. It suffers not just at the hands of the ideological armed groups but also as a result of ethnoreligious violence.<\/p>\n The fertile Middle Belt region of the country, which Cruz referred to, has long been a hotbed of violence between predominantly Muslim herders from the majority Fulani ethnic group and Christian farming communities from different minority ethnic groups who have repeatedly clashed over land and water resources.<\/p>\n The violence has grown in scale and weaponry over the past few years, and has largely targeted Christian farming communities.<\/p>\n The farmers say herder groups attack their communities in lethal raids using sophisticated weapons, burn whole villages to the ground and massacre civilians. They also target infrastructure like schools, clinics, grain reserves, churches and boreholes.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
![\"[Al](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WEB-MAP-NIGERIA-SOKOTO-1000X562-1766711326.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C433&quality=80\")
What happened?<\/h2>\n
What do we know about the targets?<\/h2>\n
Is ISIL operating in Nigeria?<\/h2>\n
Why is the Trump administration targeting Nigeria now?<\/h2>\n
What is really happening in Nigeria?<\/h2>\n