US President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could carry out further airstrikes in Nigeria if violence against Christians continues in the West African country.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, Trump was asked whether the US airstrikes carried out on Christmas Day in northern Nigeria were a one-off operation or part of a broader military strategy.
“I’d love to make it a one-time strike,” Trump said. “But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike.”
The comments follow US airstrikes in Sokoto state that targeted camps belonging to Lakurawa, an Islamist militant group operating near Nigeria’s border with Niger. The attacks marked a rare instance of direct US military action inside Nigeria.
Nigeria’s government has strongly rejected Trump’s earlier claims that authorities are failing to protect Christians. Officials insist that insecurity affects all communities, regardless of religion.
“Muslims, Christians and those of no faith alike are being targeted,” Nigerian authorities have said.
Despite this, Trump maintained that Christians are disproportionately affected, though he acknowledged that Muslims are also being killed.
“I think Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria,” he said. “But it’s mostly Christians.”
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has more than 230 million people and is almost evenly split between Christians and Muslims. Christians are mainly concentrated in the south, while Muslims dominate the north.
For more than 15 years, Nigeria’s north-east has endured a brutal insurgency led by jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and factions linked to the Islamic State (IS), primarily operating from Borno state. Beyond the insurgency, the country faces widespread insecurity, including kidnappings for ransom, farmer-herder conflicts, armed banditry and separatist violence.
The Christmas Day airstrikes hit two Lakurawa camps in the largely Muslim Sokoto state. Neither the US nor Nigerian authorities have released casualty figures, and the full impact of the strikes remains unclear.
Lakurawa is believed to have emerged in Nigeria’s north-west after spreading from the Sahel region. While US and Nigerian officials say the group has links to IS affiliates in the Sahel, IS has not publicly claimed or acknowledged any relationship with Lakurawa.
Following the strikes, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the BBC that the operation was jointly coordinated with Nigerian authorities and was not religiously motivated.
“This had nothing to do with religion,” he said, adding that the timing of the attack was unrelated to Christmas — despite Trump describing the strikes as a “Christmas present.”
Tuggar also confirmed that the operation was approved by President Bola Tinubu and involved Nigeria’s armed forces.
Trump’s remarks have raised concerns about the possibility of expanded US military involvement in Nigeria, as debate continues over how best to address the country’s complex and long-running security challenges.