Donald Trump has said US and Nigerian forces killed the “second in command” global leader of the Islamic State.
“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,” the US president said on his Truth Social platform on Friday.
“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 added.
Al-Minuki had been placed under US sanctions in 2023 for ties to the Islamic State group.
“He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans,” Trump said. “With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished.”
Trump thanked the government of Nigeria for its “partnership” on the operation, while not disclosing exactly where it took place or the form of attack involved.
Al-Minuki, a Nigerian national, was designated as a “specially designated global terrorist” by the former Biden administration in 2023, according to the US federal register. At the time the state department called him a Sahel-based IS senior leader and part of its general directorate of provinces, the group’s administrative body that provides “operational guidance and funding around the world”.
Trump has previously accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christians from Islamist militants in the north-west.
Nigeria denies discriminating against any religion, saying its security forces target armed groups that attack both Christians and Muslims.
The US 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 US forces were operating in a strictly non-combat role, Nigerian military officials said earlier this year.
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters
