Trump says – President Donald Trump said late Friday that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, ISIS’s second-in-command, was killed in Africa during a joint operation with Nigeria’s armed forces.
When President Donald Trump posted late Friday, he framed it as a major blow to the Islamic State’s reach in Africa—one he said was carried out by American forces alongside Nigeria’s military.
Trump said Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. identified as the second-in-command of the militant group. was killed in a joint operation with Nigeria’s armed forces.. In a post on Truth Social. Trump said. “Tonight. at my direction. brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission.”
Al-Minuki’s death, Trump said, comes after years of ISIS attacks across multiple regions. The Islamic State group—known as ISIS—has carried out terror attacks and caused widespread damage in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.
ISIS’s leadership has also been battered in recent years. The group’s elusive leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, was killed in 2019. In August 2023, Abu Hafs al Qurayshi was named leader, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
Al-Minuki’s designation also adds weight to the announcement. In 2023, the U.S. State Department designated al-Minuki as a “specially designated global terrorist,” a step that imposes sanctions on any property in the United States and restricts transactions.
Even as the organization has faced setbacks—such as the loss of a stronghold in Syria—the group has remained a central threat. A last year’s annual U.S. threat assessment said ISIS “remains the world’s largest Islamic terrorist organization.”
And while its forces have been under pressure, ISIS has also signaled interest in expanding its influence in Africa. In 2024, a spokesman for the group “publicly hailed the group’s Africa expansion,” according to the same report.
Trump ISIS al-Minuki Nigeria Africa expansion global terrorist designation Abu Hafs al Qurayshi Abu Bakr al Baghdadi