Trump says U.S. kills Islamic State leader in Nigeria
President Trump announced Friday evening that U.S. and Nigerian military forces had killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, a leader of the Islamic State group, in a “meticulously planned and highly complex mission.”
“He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa or help plan operations targeting Americans,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social., describing him as “the most active terrorist in the world”.
Mr. Trump described al-Minuki as the Islamic State’s number two player globally.
“With its removal, ISIS’s global operations are significantly reduced,” Mr. Trump said.
Originally from Nigeria, al-Minuki was described by the U.S. State Department in 2023 as a leader of the Islamic State, or ISIS.In The Sahel region in Africa. At the time, he was a senior official in one of the offices of the Islamic State’s Provincial Directorate, which “provides operational advice and funding worldwide,” according to the State Department.
He was placed on the Treasury Department’s specially designated global terrorist list in 2023, resulting in heavy sanctions.
The Islamic State has declined significantly since the United States, its regional allies, Iran and other forces wrested large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria from the group’s control starting in 2017. But the U.S.-designated terrorist group and its affiliates have remained present in parts of the Middle East and Africa since then, carrying out insurgency attacks.
The group’s West African branches are present in Nigeria and the Sahel, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Suspected Islamic State attacks have been reported in all four countries in recent months, including an offensive against a military base in Nigeria and clashes with other Islamist groups, according to the International Crisis Group.
Mr. Trump ordered a series of strikes earlier on Islamic State targets in Nigeria on Christmas Day last year. The US military’s Africa Command said “several ISIS terrorists” had been killed in the camps.
The president Nigeria in a hurry last fall to take more measures against terrorism, accusing the country of failing to confront endemic violence against Christians. The Nigerian government has denied that the country allows religious persecution, and analysts say large numbers of Muslims and Christians have been affected by the insurgency in northern Nigeria.
