US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, whom he described as the second-in-command of the Islamic State, was killed in a joint US-Nigerian operation in Nigeria.
“In a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,” Trump wrote in an early-morning social media post, “brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed” the operation. He added that al-Minuki “thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” and said the removal of al-Minuki “greatly diminished” ISIS’s global operations.
Trump thanked the Nigerian government for its “partnership on this operation.” He did not provide further operational details in the post.
The announcement follows a deepening military partnership between the United States and Nigeria. After re-designating Nigeria as a country of particular concern, the US has sought expanded security cooperation that reportedly included requests for a drone refuelling station. In March, the US deployed multiple MQ-9 drones and about 200 troops to Nigeria to provide training and intelligence support, and Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters said the forces would undertake joint training and intelligence-focused cooperation.
US activity in Nigerian airspace has increased in recent months. Late last year the US began intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of the country. On Christmas Day, the US carried out strikes on suspected terrorist enclaves in the Bauni forest in Sokoto state; media reports variously described the strikes as involving Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a ship in the Gulf of Guinea or conducted by drones. Local communities reported explosions at the time, and Nigeria’s federal government later said debris from precision-guided munitions caused damage in neighbouring Kwara state.
Trump’s statement did not include independent verification from US or Nigerian military officials. Further details, including the location and timing of the operation and confirmation from Nigerian authorities, were not immediately available.
