The United States Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, has revealed that President Donald Trump personally directed the Pentagon to prioritise the protection of Christians in Nigeria targeted by Islamic State-linked militants, leading to expanded counterterrorism operations in the Lake Chad region.

Speaking during a press briefing at the White House on Wednesday, Hegseth said Trump issued the directive about a year ago after learning of repeated attacks on Christian communities by ISIS-affiliated groups operating in Nigeria.

According to Hegseth, the order led to intensified intelligence gathering, deployment of military assets and closer operational coordination between U.S. and Nigerian forces.

“Maybe a year ago, he heard the call of Nigerian Christians who were being targeted and killed by ISIS 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.

The U.S. defence chief said the operation produced major gains in the fight against terrorism in West Africa, including the killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, identified by U.S. officials as a senior ISIS commander operating across the Lake Chad Basin and wider Sahel region.

“And we got the assets there, and over the last month — and there hasn’t been much coverage of this — we killed ISIS number two in Nigeria, who’s most responsible for killing Christians and trying to target the U.S. homeland,” Hegseth stated.

Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was reportedly killed earlier this month during a coordinated U.S.-Nigeria military operation around Metele in Borno State, near the Lake Chad Basin.

Reuters and other international media outlets reported that al-Minuki had previously been designated a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” by the United States government and was believed to oversee ISIS-linked operations in West Africa.

President Donald Trump also confirmed the operation in an earlier statement, describing al-Minuki as ISIS’s “global second-in-command,” although some counterterrorism analysts have questioned the precise hierarchy of the extremist group and whether the designation reflects his formal global ranking within ISIS leadership.

Hegseth said intelligence recovered during the operation helped security forces identify and target additional ISIS fighters linked to attacks on Christians in Nigeria and threats against U.S. interests.

“Working on the Intel gathered, they have killed hundreds of ISIS members who were targeting and killing Christians in Nigeria,” he added.

The operation is believed to have involved close coordination between the Pentagon, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), and Nigerian security agencies, reflecting what analysts describe as an expanded American counterterrorism role in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu welcomed the operation, describing it as an important example of international cooperation against terrorism in the region.

The development comes amid growing insecurity across northern Nigeria, where Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram factions continue to carry out attacks on civilians, military formations and local communities.

While international attention has increasingly focused on attacks targeting Christian communities, security analysts note that extremist violence in northern Nigeria has also killed thousands of Muslims and displaced millions across the northeast over the past decade.

The latest revelations are likely to fuel debate over the extent of current U.S. military involvement in Nigeria and whether Washington is expanding its operational footprint across the Sahel amid rising extremist activity.

The White House has not disclosed the full scale of American deployments supporting the operations, although reports indicate that U.S. intelligence assets, surveillance drones and military advisers have played a growing role in regional counterterrorism missions.

The Pentagon has yet to release additional operational details surrounding al-Minuki’s killing.