The United States, collaborating with the Nigerian government, is turning up the heat against Islamic State militants (ISIS) in the Northeastern region of the West African country.
The US and Nigerian governments are intensifying joint operations against ISIS militants in northeastern Nigeria.US Africa Command (AFRICOM) recently launched additional airstrikes against ISIS targets on May 18, 2026.A joint offensive neutralized 175 militants and dismantled ISIS’s financial and logistical infrastructure in the region.Former US President Trump announced a prior operation that eliminated ISIS’s global second-in-command in Nigeria.
Last week, Nigerian and US forces conducted their second publicized combined anti-ISIS operation in Nigeria, targeting top militant leader Abu Bilal al-Minuki in a renewed counterterrorism assault across the Lake Chad Basin.
This week, on Tuesday, the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) disclosed that it recently launched more strikes against the insurgent group.
“On May 18, 2026, U.S. Africa Command, in coordination with the Government of Nigeria, conducted additional kinetic strikes against ISIS in Northeastern Nigeria,” AFRICOM said in a statement.
“Intelligence confirmed the targets were ISIS militants. Complete assessments are ongoing. No U.S. or Nigerian forces were harmed.
The removal of these terrorists diminishes the group’s capacity to plan attacks that threaten the safety and security of the U.S. and our partners,” the statement added.
The Nigerian military announced that a joint operation with American forces resulted in the neutralization of 175 militants.
This engagement marks the third kinetic strike executed within five days by the partnered forces, as reported by Stripes.
Military spokesperson Samaila Uba confirmed that the operations successfully dismantled the insurgents’ financial infrastructure, logistical hubs, and tactical checkpoints across the northeastern region.
A couple of weeks after U.S. Congressman Riley Moore accused the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of failing to adequately respond to what he described as escalating violence, which had the potential to lead to Nigeria facing tighter scrutiny, US President Donald Trump announced an operation that killed the global “second-in-command” of ISIS in Nigeria.
“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield: Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second-in-command of ISIS globally,” Donald Trump stated.
He further referenced leveraging intelligence reports from those monitoring the terrorists’ movements, adding that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki “thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.”
On Christmas Day 2025, US forces launched synchronized airstrikes on ISIS-affiliated targets in Sokoto State in the northwest of Nigeria, marking the first known US strike in the country.
Targeting militant camps connected to Islamic State affiliates, the operation, which the Nigerian government approved, marked a significant increase in US military engagement in Nigeria’s counterterrorism efforts,
