President Donald Trump announced Friday that a joint U.S.-Nigerian operation killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, whom he described as the second-in-command of ISIS globally. The mission, Trump said, was carried out "at my direction" and was "meticulously planned" and "very complex."
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said al-Minuki "thought he could hide in Africa," but U.S. intelligence tracked his movements. "With his removal, ISIS's global operation is greatly diminished," he added.
Al-Minuki, a Nigerian national, was designated a "specially designated global terrorist" by the Biden administration in 2023, according to the U.S. Federal Register. Born in 1982 in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno—which borders Cameroon, Chad, and Niger—he had been under U.S. sanctions for ties to the Islamic State group, which maintains a significant presence in parts of West Africa.
Trump described him as "the most active terrorist in the world," though the White House did not immediately release additional operational details or evidence supporting that characterization. The exact location of the operation was also not disclosed.
The announcement comes months after the U.S. carried out strikes targeting Islamic State-linked militants in Nigeria in December. Since then, the U.S. has deployed drones and around 200 troops to Nigeria to provide intelligence and training support to local forces combating Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked insurgencies across West Africa.
Trump also thanked the Nigerian government for its cooperation. The country has grappled with national security problems for years, especially in its northern regions.
