{"id":141214,"date":"2026-05-16T10:02:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/senior-is-leader-killed-by-us-and-nigerian-forces\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T10:02:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:02:52","slug":"senior-is-leader-killed-by-us-and-nigerian-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/senior-is-leader-killed-by-us-and-nigerian-forces\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior IS leader killed by US and Nigerian forces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s President Bola Tinubu has confirmed the killing of a senior Islamic State (IS) leader in a joint-operation with the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur determined Nigerian Armed Forces, working closely with the Armed Forces of the United States, conducted a daring joint operation that dealt a heavy blow to the ranks of the Islamic State,\u201d Tinubu said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The operation was first announced by US President Donald Trump, who described Abu-Bilal al-Minuki as the \u201csecond in command of ISIS globally\u201d and \u201cthe most active terrorist in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Al\u2011Minuki was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by Washington in 2023.<\/p>\n

The killing marks another significant setback for Islamic State group (IS) following the killing of its leader Abu Bakr al\u2011Baghdadi in 2019.<\/p>\n

Tinubu said in a statement that al-Manuki was killed along with \u201cseveral of his lieutenants\u201d, during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin.<\/p>\n

The Nigerian Military said the \u201cprecision operation\u201d was made possible through the \u201crecently formed US-Nigeria partnership and intelligence sharing efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said al-Minuki had been promoted to \u201cHead of General Directorate of States\u201d, making him one of the most senior figures within the global IS hierarchy.<\/p>\n

Before that, officials said he oversaw IS-linked operations across the Sahel and West Africa, including attacks targeting civilians and minority communities.<\/p>\n

The military also linked al-Minuki to the 2018 Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapping<\/a> when more than 100 girls from a boarding school in north-eastern Nigeria were taken by militant group Boko Haram.<\/p>\n

Nigeria military\u2019s spokesperson Samali Uba said he previously helped move fighters to Libya in support of IS operations in North Africa. Before pledging allegiance to IS in 2015, he was described as a senior Boko Haram commander.<\/p>\n

Boko Haram began its military campaign to impose Islamic rule in northern Nigeria in 2009.<\/p>\n

The group pledged its allegiance to Islamic State after what was believed to be the then-leader Abubakar Shekau posted an audio statement on Boko Haram\u2019s X account in 2015.<\/p>\n

Its aim has been to establish a \u201ccaliphate\u201d, a state ruled by a single political and religious leader according to Islamic law, or Sharia.<\/p>\n

Trump described al-Minuki\u2019sdeath as a major blow to IS\u2019s African and global networks, disrupting funding channels and command structures.<\/p>\n

The US president thanked the Nigerian government for their \u201cpartnership\u201d, adding that Minuki \u201cwill no longer terrorize the people of Africa or help plan operations to target Americans\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nigeria and the US have increased military cooperation as the country ramps up efforts to fight extremist violence.<\/p>\n

In April, IS claimed responsibility after gunmen killed at least 29 people at a football pitch in Nigeria\u2019s north-eastern Adamawa state.<\/p>\n

Last Christmas, US and Nigeria carried out a joint airstrike in Nigeria\u2019s Sokoto state targeting IS-linked groups.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s President Bola Tinubu has confirmed the killing of a senior Islamic State (IS) leader in a joint-operation with the US. \u201cOur determined Nigerian Armed Forces, working closely with the Armed Forces of the United States, conducted a daring joint operation that dealt a heavy blow to the ranks of the Islamic State,\u201d Tinubu said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}