KEY POINTS

• US and Nigerian forces killed ISIS second-in-command Abu-Bilal al-Minuki in a Sokoto air strike, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social.
• The operation, run through US Africa Command in coordination with Nigerian authorities, hit multiple targets in northwest Nigeria.
• Analysts believe the strike targeted Lakurawa, the Islamic State Sahel Province faction that has grown deadly since the 2023 Niger coup.

US and Nigerian forces killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the man Washington describes as ISIS’s second-in-command globally, in an air strike on northwest Nigeria, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social early Saturday.

US Africa Command said the strikes ran “in coordination with Nigerian authorities” in Sokoto State, with a US official telling Reuters the operation killed multiple targets. Trump, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago residence, called the mission “meticulously planned and very complex.” Now the killing marks one of the most significant counter-terrorism strikes on Nigerian soil in recent years, with the partnership signal between Abuja and Washington landing as both governments push back against the spread of Islamic State-linked militancy across the Sahel.

Trump’s announcement

Specifically, Trump credited American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria for the operation, framing it as a warning to terrorists who threaten Christians and American interests across Africa.

“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 said, naming al-Minuki and thanking Nigeria for the partnership.

Indeed, he tied the operation to his earlier warning that the slaughter of Christians would carry consequences. “I have previously warned these terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughter of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” Trump wrote.

Lakurawa likely target

Moreover, security analysts believe the operation likely targeted the Islamic State Sahel Province, locally called Lakurawa, which has grown deadlier in border states such as Sokoto and Kebbi over the past year. Nigeria hosts at least two ISIS-linked factions, Lakurawa in the northwest and Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast.

Furthermore, the Nigerian military has previously said Lakurawa originated in Niger Republic and pushed deeper into Nigeria after the 2023 military coup in Niamey, which strained multinational counter-terrorism cooperation along the porous border.

Additionally, officials did not specify which faction lost al-Minuki, although the Sokoto location and Lakurawa’s recent activity make it the most plausible target. The group has hit remote communities and security personnel through 2025 and 2026.

Wider US campaign

Meanwhile, the Nigeria strike fits into a wider escalation in US counter-Islamic-State operations. Last week, the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ran what officials called large-scale strikes against ISIS infrastructure and weapons sites in Syria, hitting roughly 70 locations across the country’s center.

The Sokoto operation builds on a Christmas Day 2025 joint strike that hit ISIS targets in the same state, signaling a sustained operational rhythm rather than a one-off intervention.

Together, the two recent operations and the Syria campaign suggest the Trump administration is treating Islamic State remnants as a top-tier counter-terrorism priority, with Sahel partners now central to the calculus.

However, Nigeria’s broader security crisis continues to cut across religious lines, affecting Christians dominant in the south and Muslims who form the majority in the north, with armed gangs frequently targeting schools and communities for ransom. The November abduction of more than 230 pupils and staff from St Mary’s Catholic boarding school in Niger State, who walked free on December 22, remains a recent reminder of how stretched Nigeria’s overall security architecture has become.

Whether the al-Minuki strike marks a turning point or simply removes a single high-value figure will depend on follow-up operations, intelligence sharing and how quickly competing ISIS factions try to fill the leadership vacuum. Yet for now, Trump and the Nigerian government have a major scalp to point to, even if the structural threat across the Sahel remains very much alive.