A joint American and Nigerian military operation has killed one of the Islamic State’s most senior leaders, Abu-Bilal al-Manuki, in a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin, the two governments announced Friday, a blow that officials said disrupts command structures and financing networks the group relies on to sustain operations across Africa and beyond.
President Trump announced the strike on his Truth Social platform late Friday night, framing it in sweeping terms.
“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,” he wrote.
Trump identified al-Manuki as the “second in command of ISIS globally” and said the militant had believed he could evade detection by operating from Africa. “Little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” Trump said. “He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans. With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished.”
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu confirmed the operation in a separate statement, saying al-Manuki was killed along with “several of his lieutenants.”
“Our determined Nigerian Armed Forces, working closely with the Armed Forces of the United States, conducted a daring joint operation that dealt a heavy blow to the ranks of the Islamic State,” Tinubu said. He thanked Trump for his “leadership and unwavering support,” adding: “I look forward to more decisive strikes against all terrorist enclaves across the nation.”
Al-Manuki, a Nigerian national, had been designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States in 2023, under the Biden administration, for his ties to Islamic State. At the time, the State Department described him as a Sahel-based IS senior leader and a member of the group’s General Directorate of Provinces — an administrative body that provides, in Washington’s words, “operational guidance and funding around the world.”
The Nigerian military said al-Manuki had since been elevated further within IS ranks, ascending to head of what the group calls the General Directorate of States, making him one of the most senior figures in its global structure.
Before that promotion, officials said he oversaw IS-linked operations across the Sahel and West Africa, including attacks on civilians and minority communities. The Nigerian military also linked him to the 2018 Dapchi kidnapping, in which more than 100 schoolgirls were abducted from a boarding school in north-eastern Nigeria by Boko Haram militants.
Military spokesperson Samali Uba said al-Manuki had previously facilitated the movement of fighters to Libya in support of IS operations in North Africa. Before pledging allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015, he was described as a senior commander within Boko Haram, the militant group that launched its campaign to impose Islamic rule on northern Nigeria in 2009.
A deepening military partnership
The Nigerian military called the operation a “precision strike” made possible by the “recently formed US-Nigeria partnership and intelligence sharing efforts.” The description points to a security relationship that has expanded rapidly over the past year.
Since late 2024, the United States has deployed surveillance drones and approximately 200 troops to Nigeria to provide training and intelligence support against Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked insurgencies spreading across West Africa. U.S. forces are operating in a non-combat advisory role, Nigerian military officials have said.
In December, the two countries carried out a joint airstrike in Nigeria’s Sokoto state targeting IS-linked militants — a precursor to Friday’s operation. In April, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a gun attack on a football pitch in north-eastern Adamawa state that killed at least 29 people.
Trump did not disclose the precise location of the strike or the form of attack used.
The killing ranks among the most significant setbacks for Islamic State since the 2019 death of its founder and leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a U.S. special forces raid in Syria.
Trump has previously accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christians from Islamist militants in the country’s north-west. The Nigerian government has denied those accusations, saying its security forces target armed groups that threaten both Christians and Muslims alike.
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