US President Donald Trump has announced that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, described as the second-in-command of ISIS globally, has been killed in a joint operation carried out by American and Nigerian forces.
"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," Trump stated, IANS reported.
"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 will no longer terrorise the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans. With his removal, ISIS's global operation is greatly diminished," he further said.
Donald Trump had earlier accused authorities in Nigeria of failing to protect Christians, alleging that the community faced persecution in the country, Indian Express reported.
Abu Bilal al-Minuki, born in Nigeria’s Borno State in 1982, was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States on June 8, 2023, alongside Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rufay’i, an Iraq-based ISIS figure.
According to the Counter Extremism Project, al-Minuki was believed to have assumed a regional command position within the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) after the killing of its leader Mamman Nur in 2018. Reports described him as one of Nur’s main rivals who later became an influential and hardline figure within the organisation.
Regional analysts have also highlighted al-Minuki’s tense relationship with Abubakar Shekau, the former head of Boko Haram. According to the CEP, sometime between March 2015 and early 2016, Shekau allegedly refused an ISIS directive to send fighters to Libya. Al-Minuki, who was then serving as ISWAP’s commander in the Lake Chad region, reportedly facilitated the deployment instead. Analysts suggested that the episode intensified disagreements between the two leaders, particularly because Shekau opposed closer operational coordination with ISIS.
It remains uncertain when al-Minuki became the senior leader of ISIS’s al-Furqan Office, one of the group’s most established regional structures. The office is said to be responsible for coordinating operations and facilitating international funding for ISIS affiliates.
The al-Furqan Office is said to oversee militant activities in Nigeria and neighbouring countries, as well as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara network operating across the western Sahel region.