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Nigeria said it shared intelligence with the US ahead of Christmas night airstrikes on ISIS targets in the country.
The Nigerian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday that it is “engaged in structured security cooperation” with other countries, including the US, and said the cooperation had led to “precision strikes on terrorist targets.” The ministry said joint security efforts include intelligence sharing and strategic coordination.
“Nigeria reiterates that all counter-terrorism efforts are guided by the primacy of protecting civilian life, safeguarding national unity and upholding the rights and dignity of all citizens, regardless of religion or ethnicity. Terrorist violence in any form directed at Christian, Muslim or other communities is an affront to Nigeria’s values and international peace and security,” the ministry wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.
Trump’s warning to Nigeria offers hope to the country’s persecuted Christians
Members of St. Leo Catholic Church lead a procession in celebration of Palm Sunday in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, April 13, 2025. (Adekunle Ajayi/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump announced Christmas night airstrikes in northwestern Nigeria, saying the targets were ISIS militants, whom he accused of killing Christians. The president also included a warning that there would be more attacks if violence against Christians continued.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly attack isis terrorist scum In northwestern Nigeria, who are primarily targeting and brutally killing innocent Christians, at a level not seen for many years and even centuries!” Trump said on Truth Social on Thursday.
“I have already warned these terrorists that if they do not stop slaughtering Christians, they will pay a price, and that is what happened tonight. The War Department conducted a series of precision strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.
He further said, “Under my leadership our country will not allow radical Islamic terrorism to flourish.” “God bless our forces and Merry Christmas to everyone including the dead terrorists, if the massacre of Christians continues the number of such terrorists will be even more.”
A drone view of Christians leaving St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church after Sunday mass in Palmgrove, Lagos, Nigeria, on November 2, 2025. (Sadiq Adelakun/Reuters)
Nigerian Christian leader calls Trump’s spotlight on violence in Nigeria ‘answer to prayer’
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, who has been vocal about violence against Christians in Nigeria, praised the attacks. The ambassador said the precise attacks showed Christians in Nigeria and around the world that Trump “will fight for them.”
Last month, Trump threatened to “do things to Nigeria that Nigeria will not be happy with” and “walk into that damned country with guns blazing.”
That warning set the stage for the Christmas-night attacks, which Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said fulfilled the president’s demand that the killings stop. Hegseth also included a reference to US-Nigeria cooperation in a post on X that led to the attacks.
In this photo obtained from social media, gunmen enter a church in Eruku, Kwara state, Nigeria, November 18, 2025, picking up belongings left behind by worshipers who ran for cover after hearing gunshots. (Via social media/Reuters)
US Ambassador Michael Waltz declares persecution of Christians in Nigeria as ‘genocide’
“The President said it clearly last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must stop,” Hegseth wrote on X. [War Department] Always prepared, so ISIS found out tonight – on Christmas. And more to come… Grateful for the support and cooperation of the Nigerian Government. merry christmas!”
Christians and Christian institutions in Nigeria have come under attack in recent months, sparking global outrage and angering the Trump administration.
In November, armed gunmen attacked Christ Apostolic Church, killing two people and abducting dozens. The 38 kidnapped worshipers were freed after about a week.
This photo released by the Christian Association of Nigeria shows the hostels of St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School after gunmen abducted children and staff in Papiri community, Nigeria, on Friday, November 21, 2025. (Christian Union of Nigeria via AP)
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The attack on Christ Apostolic Church was preceded and followed by attacks on Christian schools in Nigeria.
Days before the attack, gunmen abducted 25 girls from a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi state and killed at least one employee. One of the girls managed to escape on the day of the abduction, while the remaining 24 were rescued about a week later, the Associated Press reported.
A few days after the attack on Christ Apostolic Church, armed assailants attacked St. Mary’s School and abducted more than 300 students and staff. School officials said that 50 students managed to escape over the following days, while 253 students and 12 teachers remained captive.
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Soares contributed to this report.
