News Update
US President Donald Trump says Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of ISIS, has been killed in Nigeria.
Trump said al-Minuki was killed in a “complex mission” carried out by Nigerian and American troops.
The US president shared updates on the operation in a social media post in the wee hours of Saturday.
“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.
“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.
“He will no longer terrorise the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans.
“With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished.”
Trump also acknowledged and thanked the Nigerian government for its “partnership on this operation”.
US-NIGERIA MILITARY COOPERATION
Nigeria had entered into a military partnership with the United States following Trump’s re-designation of the West African nation as a country of particular concern (CPC).
Media reported in February that a drone refuelling station was among the demands made by the US as part of the security partnership.
In March, the US deployed multiple MQ-9 drones alongside 200 troops to Nigeria to provide training and intelligence support to the country’s military in its fight against Islamist militants.
The Defence Headquarters had said the Nigerian troops, alongside the US forces, would commence a series of joint training engagements and intelligence-focused cooperation initiatives.
SECOND HIGH-PROFILE US OPERATION IN NIGERIA
Late last year, the US began conducting intelligence-gathering flights over swathes of Nigerian territory.
On Christmas Day, the US launched missile strikes on two terrorist enclaves in the Bauni forest in Tangaza LGA, Sokoto state.
It was widely reported that the strike involved more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from a navy ship in the Gulf of Guinea.
But officials familiar with the operation told Newsmen that the strikes involved drones.
Communities in Sokoto and Kwara states had reported explosions at the same time the US launched a fusillade of air strikes on ISIS terrorists.
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The federal government later confirmed that the explosions in Kwara were caused by debris from the precision-guided munitions (PGMs) fired by the US.