Secretary of War Hegseth has revealed that President Trump ordered the Pentagon to prioritize protecting Nigerian Christians targeted by ISIS — and says the mission quietly led to the killing of ISIS’ second-in-command in Nigeria.
Hegseth says U.S. intelligence gathered during the operation helped lead to the deaths of “hundreds” of ISIS fighters tied to attacks on Christians and threats against the U.S. homeland.
“There’s a lot of things we do that the media pays attention to, and a lot of things that the president empowers the Department to do on behalf of the American people, that he deserves great credit for.”
ISIS West Africa has killed thousands across Nigeria since 2016.
Christian communities in northern Nigeria have suffered endless attacks from Boko Haram, ISIS, and Fulani militants, churches burned, thousands killed, with the government doing very little to protect victims.
ISIS number two man, Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki was killed in a joint-operation by the United States and Nigerian forces recently in Borno State, North East Nigeria.
He was described by US President Donald Trump as the “second in command of ISIS globally” and “the most active terrorist in the world”.
Al‑Minuki was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by Washington in 2023.
He was killed along with “several of his lieutenants” during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin, a huge region of waterways and swampland shared by Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
A military spokesman said intelligence had established Minuki had established a fortified base in the area – in Metele, Borno state.
The Lake Chad basin has long been a stronghold for Boko Haram and its rival faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap).
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