President Donald Trump announced on Friday evening that U.S. and Nigerian military forces had killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, described as a deputy leader of the Islamic State, in a joint operation in Nigeria. Trump said the strike was carried out at his direction in what he called a meticulously planned and very complex mission.

"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 said in the announcement. He thanked the Nigerian government for partnering with the United States on the operation.

"With his removal, ISIS's global operation is greatly diminished," he said. "He will no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans."

The U.S. State Department described al-Minuki in 2023 as a leader of the Islamic State in Africa's Sahel region. That year, he served as a senior official in one of the Islamic State's General Directorate of Provinces offices, which provide operational guidance and funding around the world. He was placed on the U.S. Treasury Department's specially designated global terrorist list in 2023.

The Islamic State lost large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria starting in 2017, but the group and its affiliates have remained present in parts of the Middle East and Africa, carrying out insurgent attacks. Its West Africa branches operate in Nigeria and in the Sahel, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Suspected Islamic State attacks have been reported in those countries in recent months, including an offensive on a military base in Nigeria and clashes with other Islamist groups, according to the International Crisis Group.

On Christmas Day last year, Trump ordered strikes on Islamic State targets in Nigeria. U.S. Africa Command said multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in camps during those strikes. In the fall of last year, he pressed Nigeria to take more action against terrorism, accusing it of failing to deal with violence against Christians. The Nigerian government denied that the country allows religious persecution.