Sanusi Madabo, a 40-year-old farmer from the small Nigerian village of Jabo, was preparing to go to bed on Thursday night, December 25, 2025, when a sudden loud noise startled him. It sounded like a plane crashing. Curious and alarmed, he ran outside his mud house along with his wife to see what had happened.
To their shock, the sky was glowing bright red, lighting up the entire village. The unusual light was so intense that it made the night almost feel like daytime. Madabo described the scene as “almost like daytime,” and said the bright glow lasted for several hours, leaving villagers in awe and fear.
It was only later that Madabo learned the cause of the strange phenomenon. The U.S. military had carried out an attack on what it believed was a camp used by the militant Islamic State group. The strike was part of ongoing efforts to target extremist networks in the region. For the villagers, what started as a mysterious and frightening night turned out to be a glimpse of a faraway conflict impacting their own community.
The incident highlights the unexpected ways global conflicts can reach local communities, affecting ordinary people like Madabo and his neighbors, who had no connection to the ongoing violence but witnessed its dramatic consequences firsthand.