Yuri Grips / EPA
US President Donald Trump.
Second-in-command of the Islamic State eliminated in Nigeria. The terrorist group’s “global operation” has been “considerably weakened”, guarantees Donald Trump.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that the second in command of the Islamic State (IS), Abu-Bilal al-Minukiwas eliminated in Nigeria, in a joint operation with the Nigerian army.
“The courageous American forces and the Nigerian Armed Forces flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist on the planet from the battlefield,” Trump said.
Al-Minuki “thought he could hide in Africa, but I didn’t know we had sources keeping us informed about his activities,” the Republican added on Friday.
In a message published on the social network he owns, Truth Social, Trump highlighted that Al-Minuki “will not return to terrorizing the African people or help plan operations against Americans”. On the same day that he returned from a state visit to China, Trump said that the Islamic State’s “global operation” is “considerably weakened” with the death of Al-Minuki and thanked the Nigerian government for its collaboration in the anti-terrorism mission.
Kidnappings continue to haunt Nigeria
On February 16, the Nigerian Armed Forces announced the arrival of approximately a hundred US military personnel at Bauchi Air Base, in the northwest of the country, to reinforce the fight against terrorist threats.
Northeast Nigeria has suffered attacks from the Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram since 2009. Violence intensified after 2016, with the emergence of the dissident group Islamic State of West Africa Province. In the northwest of the country, the Lakurawaa group apparently linked to the terrorist organization Islamic State of the Sahel Province, has also been carrying out attacks in Kebbi and Sokoto states for several years.
Fighting has intensified since the United States, together with local forces, carried out a series of airstrikes in late 2025 against Fundamentalist positions in northwestern Nigeria.
Dozens of students were kidnapped on Friday by alleged extremists in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno, local sources and family members told France Press news agency.
The village, in the Askira Uba district of Borno state, is on the edge of the Sambisa Forest, a nature reserve that has become a sanctuary for Islamic extremists.
A wave of attacks shook Nigeria in 2025, including the abduction of hundreds of schoolchildren by Islamic fundamentalists Boko Haram in north-central Niger state.
