U.S. Africa Command said U.S. forces, working with the Government of Nigeria, killed senior ISIS figure Abu-Bilal al-Minuki and other ISIS leaders during an operation in northeastern Nigeria on May 16, 2026.
AFRICOM said its initial assessment found that multiple terrorists were killed, including al-Minuki, whom the command identified as the director of global operations for ISIS. No U.S. service members were harmed, the command said.
The operation was carried out at the direction of President Donald Trump and the secretary of war and in coordination with Nigerian authorities, according to AFRICOM.
“As President Trump shared last night, AFRICOM, in coordination with the Armed Forces of Nigeria, bravely and valiantly conducted a successful mission that resulted in the elimination of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki and multiple other ISIS leaders,” U.S. Air Force Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said in the release.
Anderson said the mission showed the value of the U.S.-Nigeria partnership and followed months of cooperation between the two countries’ forces.
“This operation underscores the exceptional value of the U.S.-Nigeria partnership and was made possible through the cooperation and coordination of our forces recently,” Anderson said. “Our two nations will relentlessly pursue and neutralize terrorist threats, and we are committed to protecting our people and interests.”
AFRICOM said al-Minuki provided strategic guidance to the ISIS global network on media and financial operations, as well as the development and manufacturing of weapons, explosives and drones. The command described him as “the most active terrorist in the world” and said he had a significant history of involvement in planning attacks and directing hostage taking.
Pete Hegseth, the secretary of war, said in a post on X that U.S. forces, in coordination with the Armed Forces of Nigeria, killed al-Minuki and other ISIS leaders.
Hegseth described al-Minuki as the senior ISIS general directorate of provinces emir and the “number two for ISIS globally.” He said al-Minuki was responsible for overseeing attack planning, directing hostage taking and managing financial operations.
“The removal of him and other ISIS personnel makes Americans safer by further degrading ISIS’s ability to plan and carry out attacks that threaten the U.S. homeland, American citizens, and innocent civilians,” Hegseth wrote.
President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria carried out what he called a “meticulously planned and very complex mission” to remove al-Minuki from the battlefield.
Trump stated that U.S. sources tracked al-Minuki, who believed he could conceal himself in Africa. He thanked the government of Nigeria for its partnership and said ISIS’s global operation had been diminished by al-Minuki’s removal.
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