American and Nigerian forces killed a senior Islamic State (IS) group leader in a Friday evening joint operation in Nigeria’s Lake Chad Basin.
President Donald Trump announced the operation in a late-night social media post Friday, identifying the target as Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, also known as Abu Bakr al-Mainuki.
“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 wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said al-Minuki was the Islamic State group’s second-in-command globally and added that he “thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.”
The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) shared a video showing what it described as a joint U.S.-Nigerian operation in northeastern Nigeria that targeted al-Minuki. It said “multiple high value individuals” were also targeted in the operation.
Last night’s operation targeted a significant presence of ISIS fighters in Northeastern Nigeria eliminating multiple high value individuals including Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. pic.twitter.com/lNj4AMSITH
— U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) (@USAfricaCommand) May 16, 2026
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who also confirmed the strike, said al-Minuki was killed alongside “several of his lieutenants” at his compound in the Lake Chad Basin.
According to Sani Uba, a spokesperson for the Nigerian military task force involved in the operation, the mission was a “highly complex precision air-land operation” carried out over three hours during the night. He said there were no casualties among government forces.
Born in Nigeria’s Borno province in 1982, al-Minuki rose through the ranks of the IS’ West Africa branch after the death of its previous regional leader in 2018. He was believed to have operated from the Sahel region and previously fought in Libya during the height of IS activity there.
U.S. officials said al-Minuki had been sanctioned in 2023 for ties to IS operations in Nigeria. He was considered a key figure in organizing attacks, hostage operations, and financing the group’s activities across West Africa.
The recent strike is the latest in a series of joint actions under a new security partnership between the U.S. and Nigeria. The partnership began last year after Trump said Christians were being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis and threatened U.S. military intervention.
The operation follows months of heightened U.S. military involvement in Nigeria.
.@POTUS “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and… pic.twitter.com/ct7rUW128t
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) December 26, 2025
On Christmas Day, U.S. naval forces launched missile strikes targeting Islamic State camps in Sokoto state.
In February, the U.S. military deployed about 100 troops to Nigeria after a request from the Nigerian government for help in fighting Islamic militants and other armed groups.
According to the Nigerian military, the U.S. troops will assist with training, technical support, and intelligence-sharing. Maj. Gen. Samaila Uba, spokesman for Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters, said that U.S. troops “won’t engage in combat or have a direct operational role,” and that Nigerian forces will retain complete command authority.
