Donald Trump has said Abu-Bilal al Minuki, who is “second in command of Isis globally”, has been “eliminated” in Africa in a joint operation by US and Nigerian forces.
Al Minuki, 44, was “the most active terrorist in the world”, Trump said: “With his removal, Isis’s global operation is greatly diminished,”
Trump wrote on Truth Social.Al Minuki, from Nigeria, has reportedly held a regional commander position within Isis since 2018 and has been described as a hardline militant.
The joint operation by the US and Nigeria comes after the US struck what it said were Islamist bases in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day last year. The strikes followed accusations by Trump that Christians were being persecuted in Nigeria, which the African nation’s government denies.
The news comes after Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said contradictory messages from the Trump administration “made us reluctant about the real intentions of Americans”.
“We are in doubt about their seriousness,” Araghchi said. Donald Trump claimed that he threw away Iran’s peace proposal after reading the “unacceptable” first sentence as diplomatic efforts to end the war reached a stalemate.