U.S. and Nigerian Forces Kill ISIS Leader Abu-Bilal al-Minuki in Lake Chad Basin

U.S. and Nigerian forces killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, also known as Abu Bakr al-Mainuki or Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, in a joint operation carried out Friday in the Lake Chad Basin. President Donald Trump announced the outcome late Friday night on Truth Social, hours after returning to the White House from a three-day trip to Beijing.

Trump described the mission as flawlessly executed, meticulously planned and very complex. Trump stated that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was second in command of ISIS globally.

With al-Minuki's removal, ISIS's global operation is greatly diminished, Trump stated. The president said the Nigerian national will no longer terrorize the people of Africa or help plan operations to target Americans. Trump thanked the government of Nigeria for their partnership.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, also referred to as Bola Ahmed Tinubu, confirmed the operation and stated that al-Minuki was killed alongside several of his lieutenants during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin. Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry stated that al-Minuki had been responsible for recent attacks against the military in Nigeria’s northeast.

Samalia Uba, the military spokesperson, stated that the operation disrupted a violent terrorist network that endangered Nigeria and the broader West African region.

-Nigeria partnership and intelligence sharing efforts. A spokeswoman for United States Africa Command said it did not have anything to add to President Trump’s statement. Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was born in 1982 in Borno province, Nigeria.

He was a Nigerian citizen. Al-Minuki took the helm of the IS branch in West Africa after Mamman Nur was killed in 2018. He was based in the Sahel area and is believed to have fought in Libya when IS was active there more than a decade ago.

U.S. in 2023. He was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by Washington in 2023. U.S. State Department described al-Minuki as a leader of the Islamic State in Africa’s Sahel region and a senior official in one of the Islamic State’s General Directorate of Provinces offices providing operational guidance and funding.

U.S. forces to launch strikes against the Islamic State group in Nigeria in December. U.S. and Nigerian forces carried out a joint airstrike in Sokoto state targeting IS-linked groups, killing multiple ISIS terrorists in two ISIS camps in Nigeria’s northwest.

U.S. sent about 200 troops to Nigeria to advise its military. U.S. deployed drones to Nigeria. In April, IS claimed responsibility after gunmen killed at least 29 people at a football pitch in Nigeria’s north-eastern Adamawa state.

IS affiliates in Africa have emerged as some of the continent’s most active militant groups following the collapse of the IS caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2017. U.S. and allies wrested large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria from the group starting in 2017.