Washington, D.C. – The United States Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has revealed that President Donald Trump personally directed the Pentagon to prioritise the protection of Christians in Nigeria being targeted by IS!S-linked militant groups a covert operation that has now yielded significant results.
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Hegseth made the disclosure during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, saying Trump issued the directive about a year ago after learning about the ongoing attacks on Christians in Nigeria. “Maybe a year ago, he heard the call of Nigerian Christians who were being targeted and killed by IS!S in Nigeria, and he said, ‘Pete, I want the War Department to focus on ensuring that we do everything we can to protect those Christians,'” Hegseth said.
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Hegseth noted that partnerships like this can take time to build behind the scenes, but stressed that Trump never wavered on the directive. The operation, carried out largely away from public attention, has now produced what U.S. officials are calling a landmark counterterrorism success.
“Over the last month and there hasn’t been much coverage of this we killed ISIS’ number two in Nigeria, who is most responsible for killing Christians and trying to target the U.S. homeland, and have since because of the intel we gathered killed hundreds of IS!S members who were targeting and killing Christians in Nigeria, creating a whole new opportunity there,” Hegseth revealed.
The individual killed was Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, identified as ISIS’s second-in-command, who was neutralised during a joint operation involving U.S. and Nigerian forces in the Lake Chad Basin.
The U.S. defence chief described the operation as reflecting the Trump administration’s commitment to counterterrorism efforts and protecting vulnerable communities, saying: “So there are a lot of things we do that the media pays attention to, and a lot of things that the president empowers the department to do on behalf of the American people that he deserves great credit for.”
The Lake Chad Basin region, spanning northeastern Nigeria and parts of Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, has long been a flashpoint for jihadist violence, with IS!S-affiliated groups carrying out brutal attacks on Christian communities and civilians.
The disclosure marks a rare public acknowledgment of U.S. military involvement in Nigeria and signals a deepening of security cooperation between Washington and Abuja in the fight against Islamist extremism in West Africa.
“Maybe a year ago, he heard the call of Nigerian Christians who were being targeted and killed by IS!S in Nigeria, and he said, ‘Pete, I want the War Department to focus on ensuring that we do everything we can to protect those Christians,’” Hegseth said.
According to him, the operation yielded significant results in the fight against terrorism in the region.
“And we got the assets there, and over the last month, and there hasn’t been much coverage of this, we killed IS!S number two in Nigeria, who’s most responsible for killing Christians and trying to target the U.S. homeland,” he stated.
Hegseth added that working on the Intel gathered, they have killed hundreds of ISIS members who were targeting and killing Christians in Nigeria.
The U.S. defence chief described the operation as part of the Trump administration’s broader commitment to counterterrorism efforts and the protection of vulnerable communities.
“So there are a lot of things we do that the media pays attention to, and a lot of things that the President empowers the Department to do on behalf of the American people that he deserves great credit for,” Hegseth stated.
IS!S second in command, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was killed in a coordinated U.S.-Nigeria military operation in northeast Nigeria earlier this month.
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