WASHINGTON — U.S. and Nigerian forces killed a leader of the Islamic State group in Nigeria during a joint mission carried out Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said.
Trump announced the operation in a late-night social media post, identifying the militant as Abu Bakr al-Mainuki. Trump described him as the second-in-command of the Islamic State group globally and said he had been hiding in Africa.
According to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive intelligence matters, al-Mainuki was considered a key figure in Islamic State organizing and financing operations and had allegedly been plotting attacks against the United States and its interests.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the operation and said al-Mainuki was killed along with several of his lieutenants during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin.
The joint operation is the latest action under a security partnership between the United States and Nigeria that began last year after Trump raised concerns over attacks against Christians in Nigeria and threatened possible U.S. military intervention. Analysts and residents, however, have said the country’s broader security crisis affects both Christians and Muslims.
According to the Nigerian military task force involved in the mission, the operation was a “highly complex precision air-land operation” conducted during three hours of darkness early Saturday without casualties or loss of assets.
Task force spokesperson Sani Uba described the operation as the most significant counterterrorism success in the region since the campaign began in 2015.
United Nations experts said in a recent report that Islamic State activities in West Africa intensified last year, citing more than 500 attacks between January and October.
Born in Nigeria’s Borno province in 1982, al-Mainuki became a leading figure in the Islamic State West Africa Province after the death of his predecessor in 2018, according to the Counter Extremism Project. The group said he was believed to have fought in Libya during the rise of Islamic State activity there and noted that the United States sanctioned him in 2023.
Trump claimed al-Mainuki was “second in command globally,” though analysts questioned the accuracy of that description. Nigerian military officials said intelligence suggested he may have recently been elevated to a senior leadership role within the broader Islamic State hierarchy.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also described al-Mainuki as a senior global Islamic State leader responsible for planning attacks, overseeing hostage-taking operations and managing financial networks.
Security analyst Malik Samuel of Good Governance Africa said that if confirmed, the killing would mark the first time a security force eliminated such a highly ranked ISWAP leader.
“The potential to cause chaos within the group is also there because the operation must have been carried out in the heart of ISWAP’s fortified base, which is very difficult to access,” Samuel said.
Nigeria continues to battle multiple armed groups, including factions affiliated with the Islamic State group, amid an ongoing security crisis. Islamic State affiliates in Africa have become some of the continent’s most active militant groups following the collapse of the group’s self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2017.
The United States deployed troops to Nigeria earlier this year to advise the Nigerian military and later sent drones to assist operations after Trump renewed claims about attacks targeting Christians in the country.
The Friday mission was the latest in a series of overseas operations publicly announced by Trump this year.