US and Nigerian Forces Kill Senior ISIS Leader

US President Donald Trump said that US and Nigerian forces had killed a senior ISIS leader.

“Tonight, at my direction, US special forces and the Nigerian Armed Forces successfully executed a carefully planned and highly complex mission to remove the world’s most active terrorist from the battlefield,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but he didn’t know that we had sources that were constantly telling us what he was doing,” Trump added, as reported by the AFP news agency, Saturday (16/5/2026).

Al-Minuki had been sanctioned by the US in 2023 for his ties to the ISIS group, which has a large presence in parts of West Africa.

“He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target American citizens,” Trump said. “With his death, ISIS’s global operations are greatly reduced,” he added.

Trump also thanked the Nigerian government for their “partnership” in the operation.

Trump did not provide details about the form of the attack that killed al-Minuki, whether US forces had carried out an airstrike or where the militant leader was targeted.

Nigerian forces have been fighting militancy, including regional branches of the ISIS organization as well as the Boko Haram group. They have also carried out attacks and operations against non-ideological violent gangs known as “bandits.”

Since the end of 2025, the Nigerian government has been under pressure from the United States, which has accused it of not doing enough to combat the militant threat.

The US State Department announced the designation of al-Minuki on the US government’s list of “global terrorists” in 2023. At that time, the US State Department described him as a senior ISIS leader based in the Sahel and part of the Directorate General of Provinces, the group’s administrative body that provides “operational guidance and funding worldwide.”