A senior Islamic State (IS) group leader has been killed in a joint operation by US and Nigerian forces in the west African country, the two countries’ presidents said.
Under US sanctions since 2023, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was the second-in-command of IS worldwide, according to US President Donald Trump and the Nigerian military.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Photo: AP
The Nigerian defense forces said al-Minuki was a “senior ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] leader and one of the world’s most active terrorists,” using another name for the group.
It described him as an “operational and strategic figure who provided guidance to ISIS entities outside Nigeria on matters relating to media operations, economic warfare, and the development and manufacturing of weapons, explosives and drones.”
“Our determined Nigerian Armed Forces, working closely with the armed forces of the United States, conducted a daring joint operation that dealt a heavy blow to the ranks of the Islamic State,” Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said.
Al-Minuki was killed “along with several of his lieutenants, during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin,” he said.
The operation was “a meticulously planned and highly complex precision air-land operation,” the Nigerian army said.
Nigerian military spokesman Sani Uba said the operation followed intelligence that al-Minuki and his cell had established a “concealed and fortified enclave” at a remote village in Borno State in the northeast, the epicenter of a 17-year armed insurgency.
The Nigerian military sees al-Minuki’s death as removing a “critical node through which ISIS coordinated and directed operations across different regions of the world.”
Tinubu thanked Trump for his “leadership and unwavering support in this effort,” adding that he looked “forward to more decisive strikes against all terrorist enclaves across the nation.”
No soldiers or assets were lost during the operation, the Nigerian army said.
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