Hegseth wrote on X: “The president was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end. “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.”Nigeria is officially secular and its population is almost evenly split between Muslims (53%) and Christians (45%). Nigeria provided intelligence for the airstrikes in Sokoto state, Tuggar told the country’s Channels Television on Friday. The state of Katsina, another Muslim-majority state two states to the east of Sokoto, had the highest number of incidents at 706.

Source: The Guardian December 26, 2025 15:07 UTC