U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of ISIS globally, was killed in an operation carried out by U.S. and Nigerian forces.
“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield. Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump did not disclose in his post the exact location of the operation.
ISIS Figure Targeted In Africa-Based Operation
Al-Minuki, a Nigerian national, was designated as a “specially designated global terrorist” by the former Biden administration in 2023, according to the U.S. Federal Register.
The announcement comes amid continued U.S. counterterrorism activity in West Africa, where Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked groups have expanded their presence in recent years, destabilising several countries across the Sahel region.
Nigeria has been engaged in prolonged battles with multiple armed groups, including at least two linked to ISIS, as the country continues to face a complex and evolving security crisis. ISIS-affiliated networks in Africa have become among the continent’s most active militant forces in the years following the collapse of the group’s self-declared “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq in 2017.
U.S.-Nigeria Security Cooperation
Trump, who has previously accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christians from Islamist militants in the northwest, thanked the Nigerian government for its partnership in the operation.
Nigeria denies discriminating against any religion, saying its security forces target armed groups that attack both Christians and Muslims.
The U.S. had earlier carried out strikes targeting Islamic State-linked militants in Nigeria in December. Since then, Washington has deployed drones and 200 troops to provide training and intelligence support to the Nigerian military against Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked insurgencies that are spreading across West Africa.
The U.S. forces were operating in a strictly non-combat role, Nigerian military officials said earlier this year.
(With inputs from Reuters)
