President Donald Trump announced late last week that joint US and Nigerian forces have killed a senior ISIS head described as being the “most active terrorist in the world”.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday, May 15 to claim that Abu Bakr al-Mainuki, also referred to as Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, had been eliminated during a “meticulously planned and very complex mission” in Africa.
The POTUS said that Mainuki – declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by Washington in 2023 – served as the second-in-command figure within ISIS’ global movement.
“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 penned on Truth Social.
As per the BBC, Mainuki was killed along with “several of his lieutenants” during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin, a region of waterways and swampland stretching across Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
He reportedly held a senior leadership role within Islamic State West Africa Province and helped oversee operations linked to ISIS’s General Directorate of Provinces.
