President Donald Trump said late Friday that a top Islamic State group commander has been killed in Africa in a joint operation with Nigeria’s armed forces.
Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of the militant group, was killed, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission,” Trump said.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the operation and said al-Minuki was killed alongside “several of his lieutenants, during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin.”
The “highly complex precision air-land operation” was carried out during three hours of darkness early Saturday, according to Nigerian military officials.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tied the operation to a previous instruction from Trump to “help protect Christians in Nigeria,” adding: “For months, we hunted this top ISIS leader in Nigeria who was killing Christians, and we killed him — and his entire posse.”
He added: “This should serve as a reminder that we will hunt down those who wish to harm Americans or innocent Christians, wherever they are.”
No U.S. service members were harmed in the operation, according to the U.S. military’s Africa Command. The force’s commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Dagvin Anderson, said the operation alongside Nigeria “was made possible through the cooperation and coordination of our forces in recent months.”
The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, has wreaked havoc in Iraq, Syria and other parts of the world where supporters have carried out terror attacks.
Its elusive leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, was killed in 2019.
Abu Hafs al Qurayshi was named leader of the group in August 2023, the U.S. Congressional Research Service said in a report.
In 2023, the U.S. State Department designated al-Minuki as a “specially designated global terrorist,” which imposes sanctions on any property in the U.S. and restricts transactions.
While the Islamic State suffered military setbacks and the loss of a stronghold in Syria, last year’s annual U.S. threat assessment said it “remains the world’s largest Islamic terrorist organization.”
In 2024, a spokesman for the group “publicly hailed the group’s Africa expansion,” the report said.
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