Trump says ISIS second-in-command Abu-Bilal al-Minuki has been killed
He also thanked the Nigerian government for its partnership in the operation.
Saturday May 16, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the global second-in-command of ISIS, had been killed in an operation carried out by U.S. and Nigerian forces.
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“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield. 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 wrote in a Truth Social post.
He also thanked the Nigerian government for its partnership in the operation.
Nigeria had already drawn Trump’s criticism after he said Christians in the country were being persecuted, an allegation the government has denied.
The United States had previously targeted what it described as Islamist bases in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day last year after Trump made those accusations.
Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard and Muralikumar Anantharaman
