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The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has confirmed the death of one of its top commanders, Abu Bilal al-Mainuki, following a joint counterterrorism operation by Nigerian and United States special forces in the Lake Chad region.
In a lengthy statement circulated through its media channels, ISWAP described al-Mainuki and others killed in the operation as “martyrs” and accused the United States of deploying extensive military resources to track him for six months using drones and a “massive multi-point airborne landing.”
“And ponder, O servants of Allah, what prompted crusader America to cross all these distances all the way to these forests,” the group said.
“They used all types of drones and carried out a massive multi-point landing with heavy gunfire, attempting to capture a single Muslim man in the jungles of Africa.”
On May 16, US President Donald Trump and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the killing of al-Mainuki during a joint operation.
Trump described the slain militant as “second in command of ISIS globally” and “the most active terrorist in the world”.
ISWAP admitted that one of its media headquarters was directly targeted during the raid.
“And what drives America to land its planes and the elite of its forces… to attack a newly established media headquarters in the middle of the forests,” the statement read.
The group praised members of its media unit killed during the operation, claiming they fought until death without surrendering.
“They neither surrendered to their enemy nor compromised their religion,” the statement said.
The group described the slain operatives as “memorisers of the Book of Allah” and a “unique media elite.”
“How many nights they stayed awake and how many days they fasted, working under difficult conditions,” the statement added.
The confirmation from ISWAP comes nearly two weeks after US and Nigerian forces announced the successful operation that eliminated al-Mainuki, who was described by Washington as a global ISIS figure responsible for coordinating attacks and directing hostage-taking.
