Abubakar Mainok (also known as Abu Bilal Minuki or Abu-Bilal
By Abdullahi Abubakar
A senior ISWAP commander,
Abubakar Mainok (also known as Abu Bilal Minuki or Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki was killed on Friday during a joint US and Nigerian military operation. This much was revealed by the United States President, Donald Trump.
Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu also coroborated Trump’s submission by commending the joint United States–Nigeria military operation that neutralized senior ISIS/ISWAP leader Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. The terrorist leader was killed alongside his lieutenants in a strike in the Lake Chad Basin.
The Nigerian military had earlier originally listed Abu-Bilal al-Minuk as killed in 2024 but the Presidency later clarified that the 2024 claim was a case of mistaken identity.
Recall that in April 2024, Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters publicly included “Abu Bilal Minuki (aka Abubakar Mainok)” in a list of terrorist commanders reportedly neutralized between January and March 2024 but government officials confirmed his actual death occurred in a fresh joint operation on Friday.
The contradiction has raised questions about battlefield intelligence records and the accuracy of high-profile counterterrorism announcements involving one of the most wanted IS-affiliated commanders in the Lake Chad Basin.
Recall that in April 2024, the Nigerian Defence Headquarters had publicly listed Abu Bilal Minuki among top terrorist commanders neutralised during military operations across the North between January and March 2024.
The announcement, made by the then Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, identified Minuki as the “Head of IS-Al Furqan Province (ISGS and ISWAP).”
He was listed alongside several other commanders allegedly killed in coordinated operations across multiple theatres of conflict.
According to the military briefing at the time, Minuki, also known as Abubakar Mainok — was a notorious insurgent who had operated around the Birnin Gwari forest axis in Kaduna State as well as along the Abuja–Kaduna highway.
Buba had told journalists at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja that Minuki was eliminated on February 21, 2024, during ongoing clearance operations.
He further explained that the wider operations that month also led to the killing of several high-ranking terrorist figures, including Kachallah Damina and over 50 fighters in a single encounter on March 24, 2024.
“The armed forces are fighting a vicious enemy in the ongoing operations across the country,” Buba said at the time, adding that troops were “hunting them and striking them where they may be hiding and hibernating.”
The military had also claimed major gains in the campaign, including the killing of 2,351 terrorists, the arrest of 2,308 suspects, and the rescue of 1,241 kidnapped hostages within the period under review.
However, in May 2026, both United States President Donald Trump and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu announced what they described as a successful joint military operation in the Lake Chad Basin that again resulted in the killing of Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki.
President Tinubu, in a personally signed statement, described the operation as a “significant example of effective collaboration in the fight against terrorism,” confirming that Nigerian troops worked alongside United States forces in a “daring joint operation” targeting a terrorist enclave.
“Early assessments confirm the elimination of the wanted IS senior leader, Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki, also known as Abu-Mainok, along with several of his lieutenants, during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin,” Tinubu had stated.
He further praised the operation as a milestone in Nigeria–US security cooperation and expressed gratitude to President Trump for what he described as leadership and support in counterterrorism efforts.
“I extend my sincere gratitude to President Trump for his leadership and unwavering support in this effort,” Tinubu said.
The Nigerian President also commended the military personnel involved, expressing optimism that more strikes would follow against terrorist strongholds across the country.
“I commend the personnel involved on both sides for their professionalism and courage, and I look forward to more decisive strikes against all terrorist enclaves across the nation,” he added.
On his part, President Donald Trump also confirmed the operation via his Truth Social platform, describing Abu-Bilal al-Minuki as “the most active terrorist in the world.”
“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 wrote.
He further claimed that the IS commander had served as the “second in command of ISIS globally” and had long been under US sanctions since 2023.
Trump added that intelligence sources had tracked him across Africa before the final strike.
“With his removal, ISIS’s global operation is greatly diminished,” he stated.
The renewed announcement of Minuki’s death in 2026, despite Nigeria’s earlier claim in 2024 that he had already been killed, has now triggered questions about whether the same identity was misreported, reconstituted under a different alias, or incorrectly assessed in earlier battlefield reports.
Additional report: SaharaReporters
