[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump has announced that the world's 'most active terrorist' has been killed by American and Nigerian forces.
Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second in command of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), was 'eliminated' in Afria on Friday night.
'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,' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday night.
He added that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was 'hiding' in Africa, and sources had informed US officials of his whereabouts.
'He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans,' Trump wrote.
'With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished. Thank you to the Government of Nigeria for your partnership on this operation.'
Abu-Bilal al-Minuki is a Nigerian national and was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken designated him a Specially Designated Terrorist in 2023.
ISIS-West Africa is one of the most significant and lethal branches of the terror group.
The National Counterterrorism Center estimates that there are between 4,000 and 7,000 fighters affiliated with ISIS in the region.
The group is concentrated in northeastern Nigeria, with operations throughout the Lake Chad region, including Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
The branch was formed in 2015 when Boko Haram, a violent Islamist insurgency, pledged its allegiance to ISIS.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House and the Pentagon for more information.
Abu Bakr al-Mainuki viewed as the key figure in terror group’s organizing and finance, had been plotting attacks against the US and its interests, official says.
Trump said Abu Bakr al-Mainuki was second in command of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group globally."
Al-Mainuki was viewed as the key figure in ISIS organizing and finance, and had been plotting attacks against the United States and its interests, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share sensitive information.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the operation and said al-Mainuki was killed alongside "several of his lieutenants, during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin."
Born in Nigeria’s Borno province in 1982, al-Mainuki took the helm of the ISIS branch in West Africa after the group’s previous leader in the region, Mamman Nur, was killed in 2018, according to the Counter Extremism Project, which tracks holy warrior groups.
Al-Mainuki was based in the Sahel area, the monitoring group said, adding that it is believed that he fought in Libya when ISIS was active in the North African nation more than a decade ago. He was sanctioned by the US in 2023.
Trump in December directed US forces to launch strikes against the Islamic State group in Nigeria, though he released little detail then about the impact.
Nigeria has been battling multiple gangs, including at least two affiliated with ISIS, as it has grappled with a multifaceted security crisis. ISIS affiliates in Africa have emerged as some of the continent’s most active holy warrior groups following the collapse of the ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2017.
The US in February sent troops to the West African nation to help advise its military and in March, the US also deployed drones there after Trump alleged that Christians are being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis.
The Friday night operation was the latest instance in a string of covert missions abroad that Trump has announced this year, starting with the stunning overnight raid in January to capture and remove Venezuela
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
’s then-leader Nicolás Maduro and whisk him to the US, followed nearly two months later by the launch of strikes that kicked off the war with Iran.
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