Trump, Nigeria claim killing of senior ISIS leader Abu-Bilal al-Minuki

ABUJA/WASHINGTON – A senior leader of the ISIS militant group 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 ISIS worldwide, according to US President Donald Trump and the Nigerian military.

First announcing the killing in a post on the Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said: “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.”

The Nigerian defence forces said al-Minuki was a “senior ISIS leader and one of the world’s most active terrorists”.

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,” he said, using another name for the terror group.

Mr Tinubu said in his statement that al-Minuki, also known as Abu-Mainok, was killed “along with several of his lieutenants during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin”, a restive region straddling Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

The operation was “a meticulously planned and highly complex precision air-land operation” carried out on May 16 between midnight and 4am (7am and 11am), 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 the Borno State in the north-east, the epicentre 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”.

Nigeria has long been battling jihadist insurgents, including regional offshoots of the ISIS organisation as well as extremist rival Boko Haram. It has also carried out strikes and operations against non-ideological violent gangs of criminals known as “bandits”.

Since late 2025, the Nigerian government has been under pressure from the US, which has accused it of not doing enough to combat the militant threat.

On Christmas Day, the US, in collaboration with the Nigerian authorities, carried out air strikes in north-western Sokoto state targeting fighters from terror affiliate ISIS-Sahel, usually active in neighbouring Niger.

Washington has since deployed hundreds of troops to Nigeria to support and train its forces.

Mr Tinubu thanked Mr 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, according to the Nigerian army.

Al-Minuki oversaw ISIS-linked operations across the Sahel and West Africa, including attacks against “ethnic and religious minority communities”, the Nigerian military said.

Previously a senior member of Boko Haram, which has been waging an Islamist insurgency in the region since 2009, he was linked to the 2018 Dapchi kidnapping of more than 100 schoolgirls in north-eastern Nigeria’s Yobe state.

Between March 2015 and early 2016, he also facilitated the movement of fighters to Libya to support ISIS operations in North Africa, according to the army. AFP