Marco Rubio, United States Secretary of State, says 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.
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