ISIS global director killed in joint U.S.-Nigeria operation
by Mary McCue Bell · The Washington TimesA joint U.S.-Nigeria operation killed the No. 2 for ISIS globally, President Trump and his Nigerian counterpart, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said Saturday.
On Saturday night, U.S. Africa Command and the Armed Forces of Nigeria conducted a mission against ISIS in northeastern Nigeria. Both the command’s and Mr. Tinubu’s initial assessments found that multiple terrorists, including Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the director of global operations for ISIS, and other senior ISIS leaders, were killed during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin.
No U.S. service members were harmed in the operation.
Mr. Tinubu described the mission as a “significant example of effective collaboration in the fight against terrorism.”
The U.S. president said that the joint operation eliminated “the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield.”
“Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” he said on Truth Social. “He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans. With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished.”
Mr. Trump designated Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” for religious freedom last November, describing the killings of Christians by radical Islamist groups as a “genocide.” He warned on social media that if the Nigerian government failed to stop the attacks, the U.S. could go into the country “guns-a-blazing” to wipe out Islamist terrorists.
Mr. Trump then instructed the Department of Defense to prepare potential action and threatened to immediately halt all financial aid and assistance to Nigeria if the government did not take serious steps to mitigate the violence.
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“So, for months, we hunted this top ISIS leader in Nigeria who was killing Christians, and we killed him—and his entire posse,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday, adding that this operation “should serve as a reminder that we will hunt down those who wish to harm Americans or innocent Christians, wherever they are.”
Mr. Al-Minuki was the most active terrorist in the world, the command said in a statement.
He was responsible for overseeing the planning of attacks, directing hostage-taking and managing financial operations, Mr. Hegseth said. He provided strategic guidance to the ISIS global network on media and financial operations as well as the development and manufacturing of weapons, explosives and drones.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said that this operation “underscores the exceptional value of the U.S.-Nigeria partnership and was made possible through the cooperation and coordination of our forces in recent months.
“Make no mistake, our two nations will relentlessly pursue and neutralize terrorist threats and are committed to protecting our people and interests,” he said in a statement.
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Mary McCue Bell
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