Nigerian officials called the operation one of the region’s biggest counterterrorism successes in years, following a previous attack that killed Abu Bakr al-Mainuki.
U.S. and Nigerian troops kill leader islamic state organization U.S. president on mission in Nigeria on Friday Donald Trump explain.
Trump announced the joint operation in Africa’s most populous country in a late-night social media post but did not provide many details. He said Abu Bakr al-Mainouki, the Islamic State group’s No. 2 figure globally, “thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know that we had sources that let us know what he was doing.”
An official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to share sensitive information said McNucki is considered a key figure in the organization and financing of the Islamic State and has been planning attacks against the United States and its interests.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the operation and said Mainuki was killed along with several of his lieutenants during an attack on their home in the Lake Chad basin.
The operation was a “highly complex precision air-ground operation” and was conducted in the early hours of Saturday morning for three hours in the dark without causing any casualties or loss of assets, according to a spokesman for the Nigerian military task force that carried out the operation.
“His elimination is the most important counterterrorism achievement in the region” since the operation began in 2015, task force spokesman Sani Uba said in a statement.
Manuki, who was born in Nigeria’s Borno province in 1982, took over the group’s West African branch after its former leader, Mamman Nur, was killed in 2018, according to the Counter Extremism Project, which tracks militant groups.
The monitoring group said Mainuki was based in the Sahel region, adding that he was believed to have fought in Libya more than a decade ago when Islamic State was active in the North African country. In 2023, he was sanctioned by the United States.
Questions about Mainouki’s exact status within the Islamic State
Trump said in a statement on social media that Mainuki was “the second most powerful person in the world” and was hiding in Africa, a statement that some analysts considered inappropriate. The Nigerian military also said in a statement that intelligence showed that earlier this year, Mainuki may have been “promoted to the position of director-general of the country, making him the second-highest leader in the Islamic State’s global hierarchy.”
His status within the Islamic State could not be independently verified. Analysts say that Mainuuki is the deputy of Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the leader of the Islamic State in West Africa Province. reported dead 2021. He is seen as one of the main supporters of the founding of ISWAP after it split from Boko Haram in 2016.
Malik Samuel, a senior researcher at Good Governance Africa, which specializes in insurgent groups in Nigeria, said: “If confirmed, the scale of Mainuki’s killing would be huge because it is the first time security agencies have killed someone so high on the ISWAP rankings.”
“There is also the potential to cause confusion within the organization, as the operation must have been conducted in the heart of ISWAP’s fortified base, which is difficult to access.”
trump card Instructed the US military to launch in December attacks against the Islamic State group in Nigeria, although he gave no details about the impact at the time.
U.S. and Nigeria step up joint operations
The Nigerian military said the operation was the result of recent partnerships and intelligence-sharing efforts between the United States and Nigeria. Military spokesperson Samalia Uba said in a statement that the operation also “disrupted violent terrorist networks that threatened Nigeria and the wider West Africa region.”
Nigeria has been battling multiple armed groups, at least two of which are linked to the Islamic State, as it grapples with a multi-faceted security crisis. After the collapse of the so-called “Islamic State” caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2017, the “Islamic State” affiliate in Africa has become one of the most active militant groups on the continent.
this The United States sends troops to West African countries in February to help advise its troops, and in March, The United States has also deployed drones there Christians on Trump’s claims is becoming a target Nigeria’s security crisis.
Friday night’s operation was the latest in a series of covert overseas operations announced by Trump this year, starting with a stunning overnight raid in January to capture and take Venezuela’s then-leader Nicolás Maduro to the United States and then launching the attack nearly two months later that kicked off the war with Iran.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
