President Trump introduced Friday night that U.S. and Nigerian navy forces had killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, a frontrunner of the Islamic State group, in a “meticulously planned and very complex mission.”
Mr. Trump described al-Minuki because the Islamic State’s second-in-command globally and “the most active terrorist in the world.”Â
“He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished.”
The Nigerian president’s workplace additionally confirmed the operation, and mentioned that “early assessments confirm the elimination” of al-Minuki. “Several of his lieutenants” have been additionally killed, the workplace mentioned.Â
The operation passed off at al-Minuki’s compound on Lake Chad Basin, the Nigerian president’s workplace mentioned. Nigeria’s protection division described it as a “meticulously planned and highly coordinated counterterrorism operation.” Â
A local of Nigeria, al-Minuki was described by the U.S. State Department in 2023 as a frontrunner of the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Africa’s Sahel area. At the time, he served as a senior official in one of many Islamic State’s General Directorate of Provinces places of work, which “provide operational guidance and funding around the world,” in line with the State Department.
He was positioned on the Treasury Department’s specifically designated world terrorist record in 2023, hitting him with steep sanctions.
The Islamic State has diminished considerably for the reason that U.S., its regional allies, Iran and different forces wrested giant swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria from the group’s management beginning in 2017. But the U.S.-designated terrorist group and its associates have remained current in elements of the Middle East and Africa since then, finishing up rebel assaults.
The group’s West Africa branches have a presence in Nigeria and within the Sahel, notably in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Suspected assaults by the Islamic State have been reported in all 4 international locations in latest months, together with an offensive on a navy base in Nigeria and clashes with different Islamist teams, in line with the International Crisis Group.
Mr. Trump ordered an earlier spherical of strikes on Islamic State targets in Nigeria in Christmas Day final yr. The U.S. navy’s Africa Command mentioned “multiple ISIS terrorists” have been killed in camps.
The president pressed Nigeria final fall to take extra motion towards terrorism, accusing the nation of failing to take care of rampant violence towards Christians. The Nigerian authorities has denied that the nation permits spiritual persecution, and analysts say giant numbers of Muslims and Christians have been harmed by insurgency in northern Nigeria.