'He thought he could hide in Africa!' Donald Trump reveals the US has killed 'the world's most active terrorist'

American forces have killed Isis's "second-in-command" in a "complex mission" in Nigeria, Donald Trump has said.

The President confirmed the "most active terrorist in the world" had been taken out in a joint raid with Nigerian forces.

Abu-Bilal al-Minuki "thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing", Mr Trump added.

The Nigerian-born Islamist had been a senior Isis leader since 2018, and was placed on a watchlist of "Specially Designated Global Terrorists" in 2023.

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Al-Minuki, also known as Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Ali al-Mainuki, was a senior leader in the Isis GDP al-Furqan Office in the Sahel, or sub-Saharan Africa.

Experts classify al-Furqan as an elusive organisation based in Nigeria which funds and oversees Isis branches under the GDP, Isis's General Directorate of Provinces, its global control group.

The US Treasury says the group runs Isis funding across the Sahel, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

"He will no longer terrorise the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans," Mr Trump added in his statement.

"With his removal, Isis's global operation is greatly diminished."

Under Mr Trump, the US has carried out multiple operations in Nigeria against terrorists, with the President explicitly blaming radical Islamists for the "mass slaughter" of Christians.

"Thousands and thousands of Christians are being killed," he said in November. "Something has to be done."

The next month, American forces launched "powerful and deadly" strikes against Isis in northwest Nigeria on Christmas Day.

"They didn't think that was coming, but we hit them hard. Every camp got decimated," he told Politico.

Nigeria has long been fighting several jihadist groups, including the bloodthirsty Boko Haram.

In 2016, now-dead al-Minuki had a "falling-out" with Boko Haram leader Mamman Nur, which led to a public split between the two organisations in 2016 which weakened Isis's regional presence.

But Islamist groups are still entrenched in northeast Nigeria, where dozens of Christians were massacred and a church was burned to the ground just days ago.

More to follow...

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