The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has said his country is actively involved in counterterrorism cooperation with the Nigerian government and security forces.
Rubio spoke on Wednesday in Washington, DC, while outlining the state department’s activities before the house foreign affairs committee during a hearing on the department’s FY27 budget request.
The secretary of state said there was widespread concern about violence against Christians in Nigeria.
“We are now actively in counterterrorism cooperation with the Nigerian government and Nigerian security forces, including a joint operation a couple of weeks ago that took out the number two leader of global ISIS operating from inside of the country, and that continues,” he said.
Abu-Bilal Al-Minuki, the second-in-command of ISIS, was killed on May 15 during a joint US-Nigerian operation targeting his compound in the Lake Chad Basin.
Pete Hegseth, US secretary of defence, said Al-Minuki “was most responsible for killing Christians” in Nigeria.
President Bola Tinubu, who confirmed Al-Minuki’s death, said “several lieutenants” of the ISIS second-in-command were also killed in the mission.
Tinubu said he looked forward to more strikes.
There have since been more joint operations targeting terrorists in Nigeria. Days after Al-Minuki’s elimination, the defence headquarters (DHQ) said more than 20 ISIS/ISWAP fighters were killed in multiple US-Nigerian air strikes in Metele, Borno state.
On June 1, the Nigerian military, in collaboration with the United States Africa Command (US Africom), was reported to have killed 21 ISWAP fighters in an air strike in Arege, Kukawa LGA of Borno.