By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, May 19 (Reuters) – Nigerian forces, working with the United States, have killed 175 Islamic State militants in a series of joint air and ground strikes in the country’s northeast in recent days, the Defence Headquarters said on Tuesday.
The military said operations conducted with U.S. Africa Command destroyed checkpoints, weapons caches, logistics hubs, and financing networks used by Islamic State West Africa Province, which has led a years-long insurgency in the region.
Since suffering major setbacks in the Middle East, Islamic State has pivoted toward Africa, which accounted for 86% of the group’s global activity in the first three months of 2026, according to crisis monitoring group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data.
“As of 19 May, assessments indicate that 175 ISIS militants have been eliminated from the battlefield,” Nigeria’s Defence spokesperson Major-General Samaila Uba said in a statement.
Strikes that killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki on May 16, described by both governments as Islamic State’s global No. 2, were followed by further raids last weekend that also killed Abd al-Wahhab, an ISWAP leader overseeing attacks and propaganda, Abu Musa al-Mangawi, and Abu al-Muthanna al-Muhajir, a senior media operative and close associate of al-Minuki, the statement said.
The Defence Headquarters said the operations formed part of an ongoing campaign to “hunt down and destroy” militants threatening Nigeria and the wider region.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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