President Trump announced Friday night that American and Nigerian forces successfully killed one of the world’s top ISIS leaders during what he described as a highly coordinated counterterrorism mission deep inside Africa.
According to President Trump, the operation eliminated Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, whom he identified as the second-highest-ranking figure in ISIS globally.
“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,” President Trump wrote in a statement posted online.
The president said al-Minuki believed he could safely hide in Africa but was ultimately tracked through intelligence gathered by American sources operating in the region.
“Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” President Trump stated. “He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans.”
Trump declared that the operation dealt a major blow to ISIS’s international operations and thanked the Nigerian government for cooperating closely with the United States during the mission.
“With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished,” the president added.
The announcement came only hours after President Trump returned to Washington following a three-day diplomatic trip to China, highlighting the administration’s continued focus on counterterrorism operations abroad even amid major international negotiations.
Nigeria has struggled for years with violent Islamist insurgencies involving terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province, an ISIS-affiliated group responsible for widespread attacks throughout the region.
President Trump has previously taken an aggressive stance toward Islamic extremism in Africa. Last year, he publicly warned Nigeria that the United States would reconsider aid and potentially escalate military involvement if stronger action was not taken against terrorists targeting Christian communities.
That pressure was followed by a series of U.S. airstrikes on Christmas Day that American military officials said eliminated multiple ISIS operatives tied to regional terror networks.
Earlier this year, Nigerian officials confirmed that American military advisers and technical personnel had been deployed to assist the country with training and intelligence operations. Reports at the time indicated roughly 200 U.S. troops were sent to Nigeria in support roles.
Friday’s mission now appears to mark the most significant joint counterterrorism success between the United States and Nigeria since those expanded security partnerships began.
The post President Trump Announces US-Nigerian Operation Killed Top ISIS Leader In Africa appeared first on Real News Now.
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