• US military confirms strike conducted at Nigeria’s request.
• Operation targets militants attacking Christians: Trump.
• US Africa Command reports multiple Daesh militants killed.

The United States carried out an airstrike against Daesh militants in northwest Nigeria at the request of Nigeria’s government, US President Donald Trump and the US military said on Thursday, claiming the group had been targeting Christians in the region.

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS [Daesh] Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The US military’s Africa Command said the strike was carried out in Sokoto state at the request of the Nigerian authorities, and killed multiple Daesh militants.

The strike comes after Trump starting in late October began warning that Christianity faces an “existential threat” in Nigeria and threatened to militarily intervene in the West African country over what he says is its failure to stop violence targeting Christian communities.

Reuters reported on Monday that the US had been conducting intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November.

‘More to come’

Nigeria’s foreign ministry said the strikes were carried out as part of ongoing security cooperation with the United States, involving intelligence sharing and strategic coordination to target militant groups.

“This has led to precision hits on terrorist targets in Nigeria by air strikes in the North West,” the ministry said in a post on X.

A video posted by the Pentagon showed at least one projectile launching from a warship.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on X thanked the Nigerian government for its support and cooperation and added: “More to come…”

Nigeria’s government has said armed groups target both Muslims and Christians, and US claims that Christians face persecution do not represent a complex security situation and ignore efforts to safeguard religious freedom. But it has agreed to work with the US to bolster its forces against militant groups.

The country’s population is split between Muslims living primarily in the north and Christians in the south.

Police said earlier on Thursday a suspected suicide bomber killed at least five people and injured 35 others in Nigeria’s northeast, another region troubled by militants.

In a Christmas message posted on X earlier, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu called for peace in his country, “especially between individuals of differing religious beliefs.”

He also said, “I stand committed to doing everything within my power to enshrine religious freedom in Nigeria and to protect Christians, Muslims, and all Nigerians from violence.”

Trump issued his statement on the strike on Christmas Day while he was at his Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago Club, where he has been spending the holiday. He had no public events during the day and was last seen by the reporters traveling with him on Wednesday night.

The US military last week launched separate large-scale strikes against dozens of Daesh targets in Syria, after Trump vowed to hit back in the wake of a suspected Daesh attack on US personnel in the country.

Martin Scorsese is mourning the devastating loss of his close friends Rob and Michele Reiner, sharing a deeply personal reflection on their lives and the impact they had on him. 

In a heartfelt guest essay for The New York Times, the legendary filmmaker opened up about his grief following the tragic deaths of the couple, who were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Dec. 14. 

Their son, Nick Reiner, has since been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

“What happened to Rob and Michele is an obscenity, an abyss in lived reality,” Scorsese wrote, expressing the shock and sorrow that has followed the news. 

“From now on, I’ll have to use the past tense, and that fills me with such profound sadness.”

Scorsese reflected on his longtime friendship with Rob Reiner, noting that the two bonded early on through their shared love of storytelling and film. 

He recalled meeting Rob and his then-wife Penny Marshall in the early 1970s and immediately feeling a connection. 

“Right away, I loved hanging out with Rob,” he wrote. “He was hilarious, warm, and had a kind of joy that filled the room.”

The director praised Reiner’s creative legacy, calling This Is Spinal Tap “in a class of its own” and highlighting his work in Misery as especially powerful. 

He also reflected on working with Reiner in The Wolf of Wall Street, describing a scene in which Reiner played Leonardo DiCaprio’s father as deeply moving. 

“I was struck by the tenderness he brought to it,” Scorsese shared, adding that revisiting that performance now is particularly painful.

In closing, Scorsese expressed a longing that feels both personal and universal, the hope of once again sharing laughter and conversation with his late friend. 

“I’ll always wish I could sit beside him again,” he wrote, “and hear that laugh, and feel lucky just to be in his presence.”

A helicopter on a medical evacuation mission has crashed on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, killing all five people on board.

The incident occurred on Wednesday evening, December 24, on one of the mountain’s most popular climbing routes at an altitude exceeding 4,000 meters.

As reported by Tanzanian authorities, the victims included two foreign nationals, a local doctor, a Tanzanian mountain guide, and the pilot.

Police identified the foreign passengers as Czech tourists who were being evacuated due to health issues.

The pilot of the helicopter was a Zimbabwe national.

The helicopter, an Airbus H125 operated by the local company Kilimanjaro Aviation, crashed between the Barafu Camp and the Kibo summit.

The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) confirmed the fatalities and stated that a formal investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the accident.

The mount is considered as the highest peak of Africa drawing tens of thousands of climbers each year.

While the ascent is non-technical, altitude sickness is a common risk, usually requiring emergency evacuations.

This helicopter crash marks the first aircraft accident on the mountain since 2008.