US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth social platform that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was killed in Nigeria during a joint mission of US and Nigerian forces.
Trump said al-Minuki was the second in command of the Islamic State (IS) globally.
“He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan plans to target Americans,” Trump said.
The US president said the removal of al-Minuki had “significantly diminished” IS’s global campaign.
Trump expressed gratitude to the Nigerian government for partnering in the mission to kill al-Minuki.
Continued violence by terrorist groups in Nigeria
Nigeria recently came under criticism from Trump, who claimed that Christians there were being persecuted by Islamic terrorists and that the government was not doing enough to stop the violence, which the government denied.
In view of the US President’s allegations, the US had allegedly attacked Islamic targets in north-western Nigeria on December 25 last year.
Nigeria has seen considerable violence by several armed terrorist groups, including Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa Province.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated…