President Donald Trump announced late last week that joint US and Nigerian forces have killed a senior ISIS head described as being the “most active terrorist in the world”.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday, May 15 to claim that Abu Bakr al-Mainuki, also referred to as Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, had been eliminated during a “meticulously planned and very complex mission” in Africa.
The POTUS said that Mainuki – declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by Washington in 2023 – served as the second-in-command figure within ISIS’ global movement.
“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 penned on Truth Social.
As per the BBC, Mainuki was killed along with “several of his lieutenants” during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin, a region of waterways and swampland stretching across Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
He reportedly held a senior leadership role within Islamic State West Africa Province and helped oversee operations linked to ISIS’s General Directorate of Provinces.
Trump claimed the ISIS chief believed he could evade capture through hiding in Africa.
“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,” Trump wrote.
“He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian military revealed that the operation in question was initiated shortly after midnight on Saturday, after months of intelligence gathering and reconnaissance. It said “zero casualties or loss of assets” were recorded, describing the operation as evidence of growing co-operation between Nigerian and US forces.
Nigeria has battled extremist organizations for years, including a number of factions linked to ISIS. Following the elimination and collapse of the terrorist group’s so-termed caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2017, several ISIS-affiliated groups have expanded heavily into the African continent across parts of West Africa.
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