On my instructions this evening, the brave American forces and the armed forces of Nigeria executed to perfection a meticulously planned and highly complex mission to eliminate the world’s most active terrorist on the battlefield,” declared the American president on his Truth Social network. This is the second time in five months that he ordered military intervention in Nigeria, a West African country plagued by jihadist violence, where he denounced alleged persecution of Christians. “For months, we have been tracking down this senior Islamic State leader in Nigeria, who was killing Christians, and we have killed him – him and his whole gang,” praised the American Defense Minister, Pete Hegseth, on the X social network.
Abou Bilal al-Minuki is described by the Nigerian forces and the U.S. Africa Command (Africom) as “a operational and strategic figure who provided advice to Islamic State entities outside Nigeria on issues related to media operations, economic warfare, and the development and manufacture of weapons, explosives, and drones.” “Our determined Nigerian forces, working closely with the U.S. forces, conducted a bold joint operation that dealt a severe blow to the ranks of the Islamic State,” said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, confirming Donald Trump’s announcement.
“A precision air-ground operation”
According to the Nigerian army, it was a “precision air-ground operation, meticulously planned and extremely complex,” that took place on Saturday between midnight and 4 a.m. (3 a.m. GMT). The jihadist leader met his end “along with several of his lieutenants, during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad basin,” clarified the Nigerian president. According to the Nigerian defense forces, the death of Abou Bilal al-Minuki “eliminates a crucial link through which the Islamic State coordinated and directed its operations in different regions of the world.”
The spokesman for the Nigerian army, Sani Uba, stated that the operation was based on intelligence indicating that al-Minuki and his international terrorist cell had established a fortified enclave in an isolated village of Metele, located in the Lake Chad basin, northeast of Borno state, the epicenter of an armed insurgency that has lasted for 17 years. Washington stated that this man, also known as Abou Bakr al-Mainuki, was born in 1982 in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria.
“He will no longer terrorize”
“With his elimination, the operational capabilities of ISIS worldwide are significantly reduced,” assured Donald Trump. “He will no longer terrorize the African population or contribute to planning operations against Americans,” he added. The north of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, faces a dual insecurity: on one hand the violence of jihadist groups, and on the other hand that of criminal gangs, locally known as “bandits,” who frequently carry out attacks on villages and mass kidnappings for ransom.
The increase in deadly attacks and kidnappings in recent months has drawn the attention of the United States. President Donald Trump claims that Christians in Nigeria are “persecuted” and victims of a “genocide” perpetrated by “terrorists,” a claim that Abuja and the majority of experts strongly deny, as the violence generally affects Christians and Muslims indiscriminately.
