U.S. Christmas Day Military Strikes In Nigeria Aim To Deter Violence Against Christians As ISIS Frames Action As “Crusader War Against Muslims”
On December 25, 2025, the United States conducted airstrikes on what USAFRICOM confirmed were “ISIS terrorists” in Nigeria’s northwestern Sokoto State.[1] The strikes were coordinated with Nigerian forces, according to a statement by Nigeria’s Information Minister.[2] Local officials in Sokoto State told the BBC that Lakurawa – an armed group affiliated with Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) – was targeted.[3] Official casualty figures have not been released, although the U.S. military asserted that “multiple” fighters were killed in the attack.
President Trump described the Christmas Day military action as a response to ISIS persecution of Nigerian Christians. In a post on Truth Social announcing the strikes, he stated: “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.” He added: “May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if they slaughter of Christians continues.”[4]
Trump first threatened to act in Nigeria over the issue of Christian persecution in November 2025. He warned in a post on Truth Social on November 1 that the United States “may very well go into that new disgraced country [of Nigeria], ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.” The President also noted that he had instructed the Department of War to “prepare for possible action.”[5]
In response, ISIS published an editorial in its weekly newsletter, Al-Naba’, in which it framed President Trump’s threats of military intervention in Nigeria as being part of a “Crusader war” against Muslims. The article, which was released on November 6, urged Muslims to view such threats as a “test of faith” in a “divine struggle” during which they would have the favor of Allah.
It advised ISIS fighters, especially in West Africa, to tactically adapt in preparation for a possible U.S. military action, including by dispersing into small, mobile units, mastering camouflage, and reducing phone use to evade U.S. surveillance. It also claimed that ISIS had succeeded in “embroiling America in a quagmire of global attrition.” If Washington seeks to protect Christians, it warned, American forces will have to “engage in more military wars in other arenas such as Mozambique, Congo, etc., where Christians are subjected to continuous harassment that is worse than the attacks currently being carried out against the Christians in Nigeria.”[6]
Since Christmas, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) Kills 23 Christians, Sets Fire To 230 Christian Homes In Nigeria
Despite the U.S. military intervention, ISIS violence against Nigerian Christians continues. Since Christmas 2025, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has claimed responsibility for killing 23 Christians during six attacks in Nigeria and one in Cameroon. The group also set fire to 230 Christians homes and one church. Besides one cross-border attack into Cameroon’s Maroua district, all violence against Christians took place in Nigeria’s northeastern Adamawa and Borno states, where ISWAP maintains a stronghold.
For example, a day after the U.S. airstrikes – on December 26 – ISWAP fighters killed four Christians and set fire to 50 Christian homes in the village of Timwai in Adamawa State. Three days later, ISWAP fighters killed another 11 Christians and set fire to 100 Christian homes and a church in the village of Mundang, also located in Adamawa State. Separately, according to an ISWAP statement, 50 more Christian homes were set ablaze in a raid on a third village in Adamawa State, Haiga, on the same day.[7] Finally, on January 18, ISWAP fighters killed one Christian and set fire to 20 Christian homes in the village of Wasum in Adamawa State.[8]
In Borno State, ISWAP conducted two attacks on January 21. In the first operation, its fighters killed three Christians from the village of Tarfa Bulama.[9] In the other, two Christians were killed and 10 homes set ablaze in the village of Tarfa.[10] ISWAP also carried out one cross-border attack on Christians in Cameroon’s Maroua region. In that attack on December 31, ISWAP fighters reportedly killed two Christians.[11]
90 Congolese Christians Killed By Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) Which Warns: Accept Islam, Pay Jizya, Or Die
Islamic State violence against African Christians also continues elsewhere on the continent. In the DRC, Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) claimed to have killed 90 Congolese Christians since Christmas, including 39 by beheading. Like ISWAP, ISCAP fighters also set fire to Christians homes. In total, the group claimed to have destroyed 98 homes in raids on Christians villages. All attacks took place in the DRC’s northeastern Ituri and North-Kivu provinces – ISCAP’s longstanding areas of operation.
In one attack on New Year’s Day, ISCAP fighters reportedly killed 15 Christians and set fire to 40 Christian homes in the Lubero Territory of North-Kivu province. ISIS’s Amaq News Agency stated that the fighters raided two Congolese Army barracks and three villages – Katanga, Maindilo, and Kilong – while Christians were “celebrating their noisy holiday.” It noted: “The Christians of the Congo welcomed the first days of their new year with a bloody massacre.”[12]
The statement also warned that the attack was “a message signed in blood that there is no safety for the Christians of Africa unless they convert to Islam or pay the jizya” – a poll-tax which was historically levied on Christians and Jews by Muslims. ISIS recently warned in an article on December 4 that its fighters would continue to slaughter Congolese Christians who refuse to pay the jizya. The article explained that ISCAP’s violence against Christians in the DRC and elsewhere in Africa is permitted by Islamic Law, which presents Christians with three options: accept Islam, pay the jizya, or die.[13]
Al-Qaeda-Aligned Al-Shabab Fighters Kill Two Christians And A Monk In Kenya As Part Of Efforts To Combat So-Called “Christianization” Of Somali Muslims
Besides ISIS, Africa’s Christians also suffer from violence perpetrated by Al-Qaeda-aligned militants. In Kenya, two Christians and a monk were reportedly killed in late January by Al-Shabab fighters who accused them of “Christianizing” Muslims.
Al-Shabab’s media arm, the Shahada News Agency, published an article on January 27, in which it described the recent attacks in Kenya’s Garissa County as combatting a so-called Christianization effort in the area. Al-Shabab would fight to support “oppressed” Muslims in what it called “Somali areas occupied by Kenya,” the article claimed.[14]
[1] Africom.mil, December 25, 2025.
[2] African.business, December 27, 2025.
[3] Bbc.com, December 27, 2025.
[4] Truthsocial.com, realDonaldTrump, December 25, 2025.
[5] Npr.org, November 1, 2025.
[6] See MEMRI JTTM report ISIS Weekly Editorial Frames President Trump’s Pledge To Protect Christians In Nigeria As New ‘Crusader War’ Against Muslims, November 6, 2025.
[7] See MEMRI JTTM report Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) Claims Killing 11 Christians, Torching Church And 150 Homes In Nigeria’s Northeastern Adamawa State, December 30, 2025.
[8] Telegram, Nashir News Agency, January 18, 2026.
[9] Telegram, Nashir News Agency, January 22, 2026.
[10] Telegram, Nashir News Agency, January 18, 2026.
[11] Telegram, Nashir News Agency, December 31, 2025.
[12] Telegram, Nashir News Agency, January 1, 2026.
[13] See MEMRI JTTM report Islamic State (ISIS) Weekly Declares Ongoing War On ‘Combatant Christians’ In Democratic Republic Of Congo (DRC); Operatives In Mozambique Conducted Preaching Tour On Island, Countered Navy Patrol Attack, December 4, 2026.
[14] Shahadaagencynews.com, January 27, 2025.
