United State Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, has said that the late second-in-command of ISIS, Abu-Bilal Al-Minuki, was largely responsible for attacks on Christians in Nigeria.
Hegseth stated this during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday. He said the US President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to prioritise the protection of Christians in Nigeria targeted by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-linked groups.
“Maybe a year ago, he heard the call of Nigerian Christians who were being targeted and killed by ISIS in Nigeria, and he said, ‘Pete, I want the War Department to focus on ensuring that we do everything we can to protect those Christians,’” Hegseth said.
The ICIR reported that US troops began targeting Islamist terrorists late last year following allegations of a Christian genocide in Nigeria, and Al-Minuki was killed on May 15 during a joint US-Nigerian operation targeting his compound in the Lake Chad Basin.
Trump and Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, who confirmed Al-Minuki’s death, said several of the ISIS commander’s lieutenants were also killed during the operation.
Hegseth in his latest remarks, said the operation involved extensive covert coordination and the deployment of military assets, adding that intelligence obtained during the mission contributed to the killing of Al-Minuki, ISIS’s second-in-command, in a joint operation by US and Nigerian forces in the Lake Chad Basin.
“And we got the assets there, and over the last month, and there hasn’t been much coverage of this, we killed ISIS number two in Nigeria, who’s most responsible for killing Christians and trying to target the U.S. homeland,” he stated.
He said high-grade intelligence gathered since the launch of US operations against ISIS in Nigeria had resulted in the elimination of hundreds of additional ISIS fighters allegedly linked to attacks on Christians in the country.
“So, there are 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,” Hegseth stated.
The US defence chief described the operation as part of the Trump administration’s broader commitment to counterterrorism efforts and the protection of vulnerable communities.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.