U.S. and Nigerian officials said they carried out a joint operation in Nigeria that killed Abu Bakr al-Mainuki, a senior Islamic State figure. President Donald Trump said the mission took place on Friday and framed it as part of growing security cooperation between the United States and Nigeria.
In a late-night social media announcement, Trump identified al-Mainuki as second-in-command of the Islamic State group globally. He said al-Mainuki “thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” according to the account he posted.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the operation and said al-Mainuki was killed alongside “several of his lieutenants” during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin. The operation came after Trump and Nigeria agreed to expand security coordination that began last year under what officials described as a renewed U.S.-Nigeria partnership.
The U.S. military released footage Saturday that it said showed airstrikes in Nigeria targeting Islamic State. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share sensitive information, said al-Mainuki was viewed as a key figure in Islamic State organizing and finance and had been plotting attacks against the United States and its interests.
The Nigerian military described the mission as “a highly complex precision air-land operation.” In a statement, the task force spokesperson Sani Uba said it was carried out during three hours of darkness early Saturday, adding that there were no casualties and no loss of assets; Uba also said the “His elimination represents the single most consequential counterterrorism outcome” in the region since the operation began in 2015.
Questions remained about al-Mainuki’s exact standing within Islamic State. The Counter Extremism Project, which tracks militant groups, said al-Mainuki was born in Nigeria’s Borno province in 1982 and took over the Islamic State branch in West Africa after Mamman Nur was killed in 2018. It said al-Mainuki was based in the Sahel area and that he fought in Libya when Islamic State was active there more than a decade ago.
U.S. and Nigerian officials gave specific descriptions of al-Mainuki’s rank, but analysts said those details are not independently verifiable. Trump said al-Mainuki was “second in command globally,” while the Nigerian military said intelligence indicated earlier this year that he might have been “elevated to the position of Head of the General Directorate of States,” making him the second most senior leader in the Islamic State global hierarchy. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also described him as the senior ISIS General Directorate of Provinces Emir, “the number two for ISIS globally,” responsible for planning attacks, directing hostage-taking, and managing financial operations.
“There is no way to verify his position within IS independently,” the report said, citing analysis that al-Mainuki was likely the deputy to Abu Musab al-Barnawi, described as the leader of the Islamic State West African Province who was reported to have died in 2021. Malik Samuel, a senior researcher at Good Governance Africa who specializes in insurgent groups in Nigeria, said if confirmed, the killing would be significant because it would be the first time a security agency had killed someone this high in the ranking of Islamic State West Africa Province.
Samuel said the operation also had the potential to cause internal chaos because it appeared to take place in what was described as the group’s fortified base. He said that base would be difficult to access, reinforcing the view that the disruption would reverberate inside the organization.
The operation landed amid broader warnings about Islamic State activity in West Africa. The United Nations said in a latest report that Islamic State intensified efforts in West Africa, citing more than 500 attacks between January and October last year.
Nigerian officials said the Friday night strike resulted from recently formed U.S.-Nigeria partnership and intelligence-sharing efforts. Samalia Uba, the military spokesperson, said in a statement that the operation also “disrupted a violent terrorist network” that endangered Nigeria and the broader West African region.
It was also part of an effort to counter Islamic State affiliates and other armed groups as Nigeria grapples with a multifaceted security crisis. The U.S. sent troops to Nigeria in February to advise its military, and in March it deployed drones after Trump’s allegations about Christians being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis and his subsequent threat of U.S. intervention.