President Donald Trump and Nigerian leader describe Abu Bilal Al Minuki killing as ‘an example of effective cooperation’ in counterterrorism
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced that Abbilal Arminuki, the Islamic State’s second-in-command worldwide, was killed along with other terrorist leaders in a joint operation between the U.S. and Nigerian militaries.
President Trump announced the strikes in northeastern Nigeria in a late May 15 post on his platform Truth Social.
“Tonight, at my direction, our brave American and Nigerian troops perfectly executed a carefully planned and extremely complex mission to remove the world’s most active terrorists from the battlefield,” President Trump said. “I thought I could hide in Africa, but little did I know that I had a source that would keep me informed about what I was doing,” Al Minuki said.
Hours later, the Nigerian leader described the military operation on X-Post as “an important example of effective cooperation in the fight against terrorism, which dealt a major blow to the ranks of the Islamic State.”
Tinubu said initial investigations confirmed that the wanted senior Islamic State leader, also known as Abu Mainok, was killed along with several of his lieutenants during an attack on his compound in Nigeria’s Lake Chad basin.
Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth also confirmed the attack and said the United States was fulfilling President Trump’s November 2025 promise to help protect Christians in Nigeria. “So we hunted down the top leader of ISIS, who had been killing Christians in Nigeria for months, and killed him and all of his men,” Hegseth said in the X post. Hegseth said al-Minuki was the senior head of ISIS’s provincial directorate and was “ISIS’s No. 2 in the world,” responsible for overseeing attack planning, directing hostage capture and managing financial operations. “Removal of him and other ISIS associates will ensure the safety of the American people by further reducing ISIS’ ability to plan and carry out attacks that threaten the American homeland, American citizens, and innocent civilians.”
