On Friday evening, President Donald Trump revealed that a joint mission between U.S. and Nigerian forces successfully neutralized a prominent ISIS leader.
Trump identified the militant as Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, highlighting his position as ISIS’s global second-in-command.
“Under my orders, courageous U.S. troops, alongside the Nigerian Armed Forces, carried out a flawlessly executed, highly intricate operation to remove one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists,” Trump announced on Truth Social.
He further elaborated, “Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, who held the rank of ISIS’s second-in-command, believed Africa would be his safe haven, unaware that we had intelligence tracking his every move. His days of terrorizing African communities and orchestrating attacks against Americans are over.”
In a related event, President Donald Trump is depicted overseeing military operations during Operation Epic Fury against Iran, from the White House in Washington, D.C., dated March 2. (Image Credit: The White House via X Account/Anadolu/Getty Images)
Trump expressed his gratitude towards the Nigerian authorities for their crucial partnership in this mission.
“With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished,” he added.
Additional details surrounding the mission were not immediately available.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
The announcement comes after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it carried out multiple strikes against more than 30 ISIS targets in Syria in February as part of a joint military effort to “sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.”
CENTCOM said U.S. forces struck ISIS infrastructure and weapons-storage targets using fixed-wing, rotary-wing and unmanned aircraft.
The U.S. military carried out ten strikes against more than 30 ISIS targets in Syria following a December ambush that killed U.S. troops. (CENTCOM)
Trump told reporters on Jan. 27 that he had a “great conversation” with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“All of the things having to do with Syria in that area are working out very, very well,” he said at the time. “So, we are very happy about it.”
CENTCOM announced in February that more than 50 ISIS terrorists had been killed or captured and more than 100 ISIS infrastructure targets struck during two months of targeted operations in Syria.
The U.S. launched Operation Hawkeye Strike in response to an ISIS ambush that killed two U.S. service members and an American interpreter Dec. 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria.
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