President Donald Trump announced early Saturday that U.S. and Nigerian forces had eliminated Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, whom he described as ISIS’s second-in-command globally, during a “meticulously planned and very complex mission.”
Mr Trump said on Truth Social that the operation, carried out at his direction, targeted Mr Al-Minuki, “the most active terrorist in the world.”
“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 president said.
Mr Trump said the mission followed intelligence gathered from sources monitoring the ISIS commander’s activities.
“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.
The president did not specify where Mr Al-Minuki—born in 1982 in Mainok, Benisheikh, Borno State, according to the U.S. government—was killed.
“He will no longer terrorise the people of Africa or help plan operations to target Americans,” Mr Trump added. “With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished.”
Mr Trump also thanked the Nigerian government for its partnership in the mission.
The announcement came months after the U.S. military carried out a series of air strikes against terrorist targets in northern Nigeria, marking America’s first kinetic action in the West African country.
The military action in December 2025 came days after the U.S. government conducted intelligence-gathering flights over Nigerian airspace since November, following Mr Trump’s threat of a military invasion of Nigeria to eliminate terrorists killing Christians.
The development also followed Mr Trump’s declaration of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern following campaigns against “Christian genocide” in Africa’s most populous nation.