FACT-CHECK: Viral ‘U.S. Airstrikes on ISIS in Nigeria’ Video Is From 2019, Not 2025 Christmas Day

By Aminat Miskilu

Claim:

A video in grey colour, posted on X, shows the launch of a powerful and deadly airstrike on a certain location, with claims illustrating the video as the missile strikes carried out by the United States against Islamic States militant in north-west Nigeria on Christmas Day. Response to the user further reinforced a false narrative that the clip “was the capture of Osama Bin Laden and that Nigeria was hit by a drone attack.”  These followed the United States President, Donald Trump, post on his Truth Social platform about the launched attack on Nigeria shared through X.

Verdict:

Misleading and used in a false context! The video is at least five years old, traced back to a LiveLeak in Afghanistan through Chomikuj.pl, a Polish file hosting service website, which dated the video to April 27, 2019.

Full Text:

On 26 December, a grey coloured video showing a missile hit and the destruction of certain targets referred to in the audio as greenhouses, circulated on X (formerly Twitter) linked to the airstrike launch by the US on Nigeria on Thursday, 25 December. The clip fired up the platform with waves of responses in its trail.

FactCheck Africa used three different audio file transcribers nokto ascertain the content for accuracy, and the audio reads:

“Roger that. I’ll be breaking out to the left. Where is that? Put it right in the greenhouses. You gotta come out now. Come out, put that missile. Roger, missiles away. Pitching it. Go ahead, sir. Good hit. Okay, we should clear and go back. Target is destroyed. And braking left, not to overfly. Impact. Roger. Piper 51, Roger. And if you could relay to Dragon 33, thanks for all of us help. Enjoy your work. Spire 26, thank you for your help today. Roger.”

One user, @RedlineGeoX, posted the clip with the caption:

“Breaking: US Conducts Airstrikes on ISIS Targets in Northwest Nigeria on Christmas Day

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he directed the U.S. military to execute a “powerful and deadly strike” against ISIS terrorists in northwest Nigeria on December 25, 2025. The operation, carried out by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and in coordination with Nigerian authorities, targeted militants in Sokoto State, who have been accused of viciously attacking Christian communities.

Initial reports confirm multiple ISIS-affiliated terrorists were killed in precise airstrikes, with no civilian casualties reported. Trump emphasised this as a direct response to the ongoing slaughter of Christians, warning of further actions if the violence continues.

This marks a significant U.S. military engagement in the region, highlighting renewed efforts to combat radical Islamic terrorism. Note: This video is for illustrative purposes only and does not depict the actual event. #RedlineGeo.”

This post garnered 740,000 views, 5,001 reposts, 21,000 likes and 522 comments.

The narrative spurred another user, who attempted to debunk the claim, to serve as a conduit for spewing another false claim.

In response to the video, @AbiodunBorisade replied, “This was the capture of Osama Bin Ladin Stop your fake propaganda. Nigerian was hit by drone attack.”

Despite the disclaimer at the end of the video caption stating that the content does not depict the actual event with the new strike on the north-west Nigeria, the information misled viewers to think the video is the actual footage of the Donald Trump measure; hence, the illustration video used for the claim gave a false context of the current happenings, fuelling false assumptions about the location, where and how the airstrike was launched.

Verification:

FactCheckAfrica conducted a verification process using reverse-image searches, cross-check with reliable and credible sources and a zoom on the disclaimer in the caption.

1. Reverse Image Search Shows Video Is from 2014 and 2019

Using TinEye on multiple keyframes of the video, we traced the footage to two sources: Chomikuj.pl, a Polish website that shows the digital file was published in Afghanistan in April 2019, and another inaccessible website tagged military.com with a date, May 27 2014. We could only investigate further with the former link, as the latter’s domain could not be reached.

The trace to Chomikuj.pl confirms that the video is not new, nor does it relate to the fresh hit in north-western Nigeria or relating to the capture of Osama bin ladin.

2. Location Confirmed Not to Be in Nigeria nor the Compound Where Osama Bin Laden Was killed

All references in the audio file revealed the attack to be on greenhouses and not on forests in Sokoto, bordered by Niger to the North.

The response claiming it was the capture of the founder of the terrorist organisation al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden was also inaccurate as he was killed on May 2, 2011, at his compound “Waziristan Haveli” in Abbottabad, Pakistan and not in 2019 or 2014.

According to an exclusive explainer video published by Al Jahzeerah, Osama Bin Laden was shot dead during the raid on his compound, not during a missile hit, and his body was taken away.

Another publication by the 9/11 & Memorial Museum website stated that he was “killed in his third-floor bedroom, where he was found with at least one weapon nearby”, by U.S. Navy SEAL Team during Operation Neptune Spear.

 3. Video False in Relation to the Released Unclassified Video by the US Department of War Official Handle on X

Although the caption of the video stated that the post does not depict the actual airstrike, it still misled viewers who may not have seen the disclaimer.

Also, the video released by the official account of the US Department of War is different to the circulated claim. Meanwhile, the response claiming that it was a drone attack that hit Nigeria was inaccurate based on the unclassified footage showing a missile launch.

Conclusion:

The claim circulating on social media that a viral video was the US airstrikes on ISIS targets in north-west Nigeria on Christmas Day is false. The video is from April 2019. The narrative linking the footage to recent events is misleading and has no connection to current U.S security cooperation with Nigeria.