US President Donald Trump said on Friday, local time, that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, was eliminated in Africa in an operation conducted by the American and Nigerian forces.
In a TruthSocial post, Trump said that on Friday night, “brave” forces “flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission” to eliminate Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, “the most active terrorist in the world”.
“Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” Trump said. “He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans. With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished.”
He thanked the Nigerian government and said, “Thank you to the Government of Nigeria for your partnership on this operation.”
Nigeria had earlier come under scrutiny from Trump, who had said that Christians there were being persecuted. The African nation’s government had denied it.
On Christmas Day last year, 25 December 2025, the US had struck what it said were Islamist bases in northwestern Nigeria following Trump’s accusations.
Who is Abu-Bilal al-Minuki?
Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second top man of the Islamic State group (ISIS) globally, was “the most active terrorist in the world,” according to Donald Trump. He said that with his removal, ISIS’s global operation will be greatly diminished.
Minuki was officially designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2023.
