US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Abu Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, had been eliminated in an operation conducted by US and Nigerian forces.

“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.

“Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

He also thanked the Nigerian government for its partnership in the operation.

Nigeria had earlier come under scrutiny from Trump who had said that Christians there were being persecuted, which the African nation’s government denies.

The US had struck what it said were militant bases in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day last year, following Trump’s accusations.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and the west African country’s military confirmed al-Minuki’s killing in Nigeria in a joint operation with US forces.

“Our determined Nigerian Armed Forces, working closely with the Armed Forces of the United States, conducted a daring joint operation that dealt a heavy blow to the ranks of the Islamic State,” Tinubu said in a statement.

The Nigerian defence forces said Abu Bilal al-Minuki was a “senior ISIS leader and one of the world’s most active terrorists”.