Updates: Nigeria confirms US strikes on ISIL targets in its northwest
These were the updates on Friday, December 26, 2025.
US releases missile launch video after northwest Nigeria strike
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- The United States has carried out an air strike against ISIL (ISIS) fighters in northwest Nigeria, US President Donald Trump says, claiming that the armed group had “targeted and viciously” killed “primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”
- Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar tells Al Jazeera the US attack was coordinated with the Nigerian government.
- Nigeria’s government has dismissed Trump’s assertions, saying armed groups target both Muslim and Christian communities.
- The armed groups in Africa’s most populous country include at least two affiliated with ISIL – an offshoot of the Boko Haram armed group in the West Africa Province in the northeast (ISWAP), and the lesser-known ISIL affiliate in Sahel Province (ISSP) known locally as Lakurawa.
- Although officials did not say exactly which group was targeted, security analysts have said the target was likely members of Lakurawa, which became more lethal in northern border states like Sokoto and Kebbi in the last year.
Here’s what happened today
This live page will be closing soon. Here’s a look at the key events.
- The United States, in cooperation with Nigeria, conducted air attacks against fighters in northwest Nigeria.
- US President Donald Trump tells Politico that the strikes he ordered on Nigerian fighters “decimated” their camps.
- Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar says Abuja provided the US with intelligence ahead of the Christmas Day strike.
- A US defence official tells Reuters that the strike was carried out by about a dozen Tomahawk missiles and that another attack is not imminent.
- Isa Salihu, the chairman of the Tangaza local government in Sokoto State, told Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper that one of the areas hit by the strike was a “primary route” for fighters.
US, Nigeria should share more information on strikes
Peace and conflict analyst Bulama Bukarti says the fear of residents in the areas struck is compounded by a lack of information.
The Nigerian government has not released information about the fighters who were targeted or any post-strike assessment of casualties.
“What can help in dousing the tension is for the American and Nigerian governments to declare who was targeted, what was attacked, and what has happened so far,” Bukarti said.
Such information is “still missing, and the more opaque the governments are, the more panic there would be on the ground, and that is what will escalate tension”.
Correction: a previous version of this post said Bulama Bukarti works at the Tony Blair Institute. That is incorrect.
Trump says delayed strike by a day to ‘give a Christmas present’
Trump says the US military strike targeting fighters in Nigeria was originally supposed to take place on Wednesday, but he ordered it delayed by a day.
“They were going to do it earlier,” Trump told Politico in an interview. “And I said, ‘nope, let’s give a Christmas present.’ … They didn’t think that was coming, but we hit them hard. Every camp got decimated.”
Analyst questions US choice of striking northwestern Sokoto State
Neither Abuja nor Washington have identified their precise targets among the multiple armed groups operating in Nigeria.
An analyst questioned the choice of striking northwestern Sokoto State, where non-ideological armed gangs known as “bandits” are a bigger concern than fighters – who may not even have been hit by the strikes.
“If you’re going to strike, then it should not be the least” affected areas, said Victoria Ekhomu, an analyst and head of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria.
She told the AFP news agency that a more obvious target would have been northeastern Borno State, the epicentre of Nigeria’s armed conflict.
The main theatre of the country’s years-long fighting is in fact the northeast of Nigeria.
What is known about ISIL group in northwest Nigeria?
Nigeria has been battling hardline fighters in its northeast since 2009, including Boko Haram and a rival offshoot, the ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in West Africa Province.
Several other groups, some of them associated with the northeastern fighters, have established themselves in the northwest.
Some researchers have recently linked an armed group known as Lakurawa, the leading armed group located in Sokoto State, to the ISIL affiliate in Sahel Province, which is active primarily in neighbouring Niger and Mali, although other researchers are doubtful.
Research on Lakurawa is complicated because the term has been used to describe various fighters in the northwest.
Fears are also growing that another powerful Sahel armed group, the al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, might establish itself in Nigeria after an attack claimed by its fighters on the Nigeria-Benin border in October.
Read our report on Lakurawa here.
Nigerians say they were seized with panic and confusion during US strikes
Sanusi Madabo, a 40-year-old farmer in the Nigerian village of Jabo in the state of Sokoto, was preparing for bed on Thursday night when he heard a loud noise that sounded like a plane crashing.
He rushed outside his mud house with his wife to see the sky glowing a bright red.
The light burned bright for hours, Madabo told The Associated Press news agency: “It was almost like daytime.”
He did not learn until later that he had witnessed a US attack on an alleged ISIL (ISIS) camp.
Residents said the village had never been attacked by armed groups as part of the violence the US says is widespread although such attacks regularly occur in neighbouring villages.
“As it approached our area, the heat became intense,” recalled Abubakar Sani, who lives just a few houses from the scene of the explosion.
“Our rooms began to shake, and then fire broke out,” he told the AP. “The Nigerian government should take appropriate measures to protect us as citizens. We have never experienced anything like this before.”
Long-term US commitment needed to end unrest in Nigeria: Ex-US official
Cameron Hudson, a former US official who worked on Africa-related issues, says the US strike is unlikely to have a big impact in the near term.
“It’s not realistic to think that a few cruise missiles are going to change much in the short term,” Hudson told Reuters.
“The Trump administration will have to demonstrate its own long-term commitment to ending this militancy if it hopes to have any effect.”
US official says another Nigeria strike does not seem imminent
The defence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, tells the Reuters news agency that the strike was carried out by about a dozen Tomahawk missiles launched from a US Navy warship.
The official said another strike did not appear imminent but did not rule out future operations.
This specific strike was carried out, the official told the agency, in part because the location was too remote for Nigerian forces to reach it.
“It’s partially symbolic,” the official said, adding that the aim was also deterrence and to send a message that the Trump administration was prepared to use the military.
WATCH: Many Nigerians happy but also worried about US strikes
Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reports from Abuja:
Here’s what we know about the US attack
Trump revealed in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday that the US had launched “numerous perfect” strikes on “ISIS positions” in northwest Nigeria.
“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!” the post read.
Trump did not disclose details about which or how many targets were hit, but he said the US would continue if the alleged killings of Christians did not stop.
The US Africa Command said in a statement that an initial assessment of the strikes had revealed “multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the ISIS camps”.
Nigeria said the US carried out the attacks in coordination with its government but denied US allegations of a “Christian genocide”.
Both Muslims and Christians are being killed in the violence in the region, and Nigeria’s foreign minister said: “It is a regional conflict. It is not a Nigeria Christian-Muslim conflict.”
Read everything we know about the US strikes here.
Christmas Day chosen as ‘a symbolic start’ to Nigeria operations
Security analyst Brant Philip says Washington has called the timing of the attack on Christmas Day “a symbolic start to official US operations in Nigeria”.
He told the Reuters news agency: “The operational results of the strikes are not significant, but much is expected soon.”
Photos: Aftermath of US strike in Sokoto
In case you’re just joining us
Let’s bring you up to speed.
- The US carried out an air strike against ISIL (ISIS) fighters in northwest Nigeria, in coordination with the Nigerian government, surprising locals.
- Isa Salihu, the chairman of the Tangaza local government in Sokoto State, told Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper that one of the areas hit by the strike was a “primary route” for fighters and likely to have been hit by them.
- Former commissioner for information and culture, Jonathan Vatsa, welcomed the US strike, calling it a “relief”, The Sun, a local news agency, reports.
- The director of the nonprofit Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) dismissed US President Donald Trump’s framing that a strike was necessary to prevent a “slaughter” of Christians in Nigeria.
WATCH: US says it strikes fighters in Nigeria
Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris reports from Lagos:
‘We have never experienced anything like this before,’ says local resident
In the Nigerian village of Jabo, Abubakar Sani, who lives a few houses from the scene of the explosion due to the US strikes, said the heat from the strike became “intense”.
“Our rooms began to shake, and then fire broke out,” he told The Associated Press news agency.
“The Nigerian government should take appropriate measures to protect us as citizens. We have never experienced anything like this before,” Sani added.
For Balira Sa’idu, 17, the strikes worried her as she prepares to get married.
“I am supposed to be thinking about my wedding, but right now I am panicking,” Sa’idu told the AP.
“The strike has changed everything. My family is afraid, and I don’t even know if it is safe to continue with the wedding plan in Jabo,” she added.
US goal behind Nigeria strikes remains unclear until Pentagon briefing
Richard Weitz, senior fellow at NATO Defense College, says there has been “concern” in the international security community in recent months that ISIS-affiliated groups were spreading across Nigeria.
“The northwest was seen as one possible area where they’re going to be gaining strength, so these could be seen as preemptive containment demonstrative strikes. If it’s followed up further, support for the Nigerian government and so on …
“We don’t know precise details yet, we’re waiting for a Pentagon briefing or something like that; but I think the general idea was you hit a group that was vulnerable to these kinds of strikes that could pose a threat to civilians,” he added.
Weitz explained that while the US’s aims remain unclear, the idea is to “weaken these groups – you can’t destroy them totally despite air strikes”.
“The larger goal of the US military in Nigeria will become clear in the coming days,” he added.
WATCH: ‘US air strikes in Nigeria are late but needed’
Watch the comments by analyst Ebenezer Obadare below:
Local official says US strikes likely to have hit fighters
Isa Salihu, the chairman of the Tangaza local government in Sokoto State, has told Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper that one of the areas hit by a US strike in the state was a “primary route” for fighters and is most likely to have hit them.
The areas struck are believed to be hideouts of fighters along the Nigeria-Niger border in Sokoto, the official was quoted as saying.
Salihu stressed that casualty figures have not been confirmed pending a formal security briefing, according to the newspaper.
“That area serves as their primary route when entering from the Niger Republic,” Salihu reportedly said.
“They frequent these zones and have established camps in the dense forests near the border.”
Photos: Police barricade scene of US attack in Sokoto
