US and Nigerian forces killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, a senior Islamic State figure, in a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin, the United States and Nigeria said. The announcement came from 
Donald Trump in a late-night post on Truth Social, in which he called al-Minuki "second in command of ISIS globally" and "the most active terrorist in the world" and said the mission was carried out at his direction. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said the two countries had carried out a "daring joint operation" and that al-Minuki was killed along with "several of his lieutenants" during a strike on a compound in the Lake Chad Basin, a region of waterways shared by Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
The Nigerian military said the operation began shortly after midnight on Saturday following months of intelligence work and recorded "zero casualties or loss of assets," describing it as evidence of a growing US-Nigeria partnership, the BBC reported. Al-Minuki, a Nigerian national from Borno state, had been designated a specially designated global terrorist by Washington in 2023, the Guardian reported, and the military linked him to attacks across the Sahel and West Africa, including the 2018 Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapping. He was previously described as a senior Boko Haram commander before pledging allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015.
Some analysts disputed Trump's "second in command globally" characterization, saying al-Minuki was a deputy within the Islamic State West Africa Province rather than a top global figure, NPR reported. Researcher Malik Samuel, who told the outlet the killing would be the first time a security agency had eliminated someone so senior in ISWAP's ranks, said the operation must have been carried out in the heart of the group's fortified base. The Nigerian military had previously claimed to have killed al-Minuki in 2024 but said Saturday that was a different fighter using the same alias, the BBC reported. The strike followed earlier US action in Nigeria in December and the deployment of drones and roughly 200 troops in a training and intelligence role; it was the latest in a string of covert missions Trump has announced this year.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
