The United States Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth has confirmed Senator Ted Cruz’s earlier disclosure that the recently neutralised number-two man in ISIS, Abu-Bilal Al-Minuki, “was most responsible for killing Christians” in Nigeria.
Al-Minuki was killed on May 15 during a joint US-Nigerian operation targeting his compound in the Lake Chad Basin. President Bola Tinubu, who confirmed Al-Minuki’s death, said “several lieutenants” of the ISIS second-in-command were also killed in the mission.
In his reaction, Cruz tweeted on May 18, “Bravo to President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, and AFRICOM for eliminating Abu-Bilal al-Minuki and other ISIS leaders responsible for Islamist violence against Christians in Nigeria. More Christians are murdered in Nigeria for their faith than anywhere else in the world…”
During a cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Hegseth said the US military’s operations against ISIS in Nigeria were in line with President Donald Trump’s charge to protect “persecuted Christians”.
“Maybe a year ago, [the president] heard the call of Nigerian Christians who were being targeted and killed by ISIS. … And he said, ‘Pete, I want the War Department to focus on ensuring that we do everything we can to protect those Christians.’
“And, over the past month — and there hasn’t been much coverage of this — we killed ISIS’ No. 2 [commander], who was most responsible for killing Christians and trying to target the U.S. homeland,” Hegseth said, according to a Pentagon report.
The Defence secretary continued that the high-quality intelligence gathered since the start of US operations against ISIS in Nigeria had led to the elimination of additional “hundreds” of ISIS members allegedly involved in the killing of Christians in the country.
He pointed out that Trump remains firm in his resolve to protect Christians in Nigeria.
