WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the United States executed a significant and lethal operation against Islamic State militants in Nigeria. This action follows weeks of Trump’s criticism towards the Nigerian government for its inability to halt the oppression of Christians within its borders.

In a Christmas evening statement shared on his social media platform, Trump refrained from providing specific details about the strike or its impact.

A Defense Department official, opting for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information, disclosed that the operation was conducted in collaboration with Nigerian authorities and had received their approval.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria highlighted that the collaboration involved the exchange of intelligence and coordinated strategies, adhering to international law while respecting sovereignty and shared commitments to both regional and global security.

Trump indicated that these airstrikes were directed at Islamic State fighters responsible for the brutal killings of innocent Christians. However, local residents and security experts point out that Nigeria’s security issues affect both Christians, who predominantly reside in the south, and Muslims, who mainly inhabit the northern regions.

“Violence from terrorists, irrespective of the communities they target, whether Christians, Muslims, or others, challenges Nigeria’s core values and threatens international peace and security,” stated Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Nigeria is battling multiple armed groups, including at least two affiliated with the Islamic State — an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the less-known Lakurawa group prominent in the northwestern states like Sokoto where the gangs use large swathes of forests connecting states as hideouts.

Security analysts said the target of the U.S. strikes could be the Lakurawa group, which in the last year has increasingly become lethal in the region, often targeting remote communities and security forces.

“Lakurawa is a group that is actually controlling territories in Nigeria, in Sokoto state and in other states like Kebbi,” said Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher at Good Governance Africa. “In the northwest, there has been the incursion of violent extremist groups that are ideologically driven,” he said, blaming the incursion on the near absence of the state and security forces in hot spots.

Nigeria’s government has previously said in response to Trump’s criticisms that people of many faiths, not just Christians, have suffered attacks at the hands of extremists groups.

Trump ordered the Pentagon last month to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria to try and curb the so-called Christian persecution. The State Department recently announced it would restrict visas for Nigerians and their family members involved in killing Christians there.

And the U.S. recently designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act.

Trump said the U.S. defense officials had “executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing” and added that “our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper.”

Nigeria’s population of 220 million is split almost equally between Christians and Muslims. The country has long faced insecurity from various fronts including the Boko Haram extremist group, which seeks to establish its radical interpretation of Islamic law and has also targeted Muslims it deems not Muslim enough.

But attacks in Nigeria often have varying motives. There are religiously motivated ones targeting both Christians and Muslims, clashes between farmers and herders over dwindling resources, communal rivalries, secessionist groups and ethnic clashes.

The U.S. security footprint has diminished in Africa, where military partnerships have either been scaled down or canceled. U.S. forces likely would have to be drawn from other parts of the world for any larger-scale military intervention in Nigeria.

Trump has nonetheless kept up the pressure as Nigeria faced a series of attacks on schools and churches in violence that experts and residents say targets both Christians and Muslims.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted Thursday night on X: “The President was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end.”

Hegseth said that U.S. military forces are “always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas” and added, “More to come…Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation” before signing off, “Merry Christmas!”

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Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed from Washington, and Chinedu Asadu from Abuja, Nigeria.