Trump says ISIS second-in-command killed in Africa

President Donald Trump late Friday said that a top Islamic State group commander has been killed in Africa in a joint operation with Nigeria’s armed forces.

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Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of the militant group, was killed, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission,” Trump said.

The Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, has wreaked havoc in Iraq, Syria and other parts of the world where supporters have carried out terror attacks.

Its elusive leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, was killed in 2019.

Abu Hafs al Qurayshi was named leader of the group in August 2023, the U.S. Congressional Research Service said in a report.

In 2023 the U.S. State Department designated al-Minuki as a “specially designated global terrorist,” which imposes sanctions on any property in the U.S. and restricts transactions.

While the Islamic State suffered military setbacks and the loss of a stronghold in Syria, last year’s annual U.S. threat assessment said it “remains the world’s largest Islamic terrorist organization.”

In 2024, a spokesman for the group “publicly hailed the group’s Africa expansion,” the report said.