Nigeria’s navy on Tuesday mentioned that joint airstrikes with the USA had killed 175 Islamic State (IS) fighters within the nation’s northeast, together with the militant group’s international second-in-command.
The distant area has been gripped by an extremist insurgency since 2009, first by Boko Haram, then its offshoot and rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
In line with the United Nations, greater than 40,000 individuals have been killed and two million others displaced.
US and Nigerian forces killed Abu Bilal al-Minuki, an IS chief described because the “most energetic terrorist” on this planet, at a distant village within the northeast final weekend.
The Nigerian navy mentioned on Tuesday that 175 IS militants had thus far been “eradicated from the battlefield”.
“The joint strikes have resulted within the destruction of ISIS checkpoints, weapons caches, logistical hubs, navy gear and monetary networks used to maintain terrorist operations,” it added.
As director of world operations for IS, al-Minuki offered strategic steerage on media and monetary operations and “the event and manufacturing of weapons, explosives and drones”, in line with the Nigerian navy and the US Africa Command (Africom).
After the announcement of al-Minuki’s loss of life, Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu thanked his US counterpart, Donald Trump, for his “management and unwavering assist”.
He mentioned he seemed ahead to “extra decisive strikes towards all terrorist enclaves throughout the nation”.
Senior figures
In line with Tuesday’s navy assertion, the operations in the previous few days have killed different key IS figures.
They embody Abdal Wahhab, mentioned to be a “senior chief” of ISWAP, “liable for coordinating assaults and distributing propaganda”.
Abu Musa al-Mangawi was mentioned to be a high-ranking ISWAP member, whereas Abu al-Muthanna al-Muhajir was a “senior media manufacturing staff supervisor and shut confidant to al-Minuki”.
Boko Haram and ISWAP have just lately stepped up their assaults on villages, police stations and employees akin to loggers and fishermen, in addition to navy bases, inflicting the deaths of a number of civilians and senior military officers.
The upsurge in assaults prompted Tinubu to declare a nationwide state of emergency in 2025 and the US president to threaten Nigeria with navy intervention.
Trump has claimed that Christians in Nigeria had been being “persecuted” and victims of a “genocide” carried out by “terrorists”. The federal government in Abuja and most consultants reject the claim and point out that the violence generally affects Christians and Muslims without distinction.
The US military, in coordination with the Nigerian authorities, carried out airstrikes on December 25 last year in the northwestern state of Sokoto, targeting what Washington called jihadists.
Northern Nigeria has been grappling with violence from criminal gangs known locally as bandits, who frequently carry out attacks on villages and mass kidnappings for ransom.
Africom has also taken action against IS and al-Shabaab militants in Somalia, intensifying airstrikes since the beginning of the year.
