The Presidency has dismissed the claim that the high-ranking Islamic State leader, Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki, who was reportedly killed in a joint operation by the Nigerian and the United States military, was earlier killed in a previous operation dating back to 2024.
Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to the president on information and strategy, disclosed that the earlier report that linked the global ISIS second-in-command’s name to the 2024 strike was a mistaken identity.
Photo Credit: @officialABAT
Source: Twitter
Onanuga’s clarification came amid the growing public concerns over the authenticity of the US-Nigeria’s latest military operation, which was announced by President Donald Trump on Friday, May 15.
The presidential aide, in a tweet on Saturday, May 16, acknowledged that the name of the ISIS commander had earlier appeared in a list of suspected ISWAP commanders, who were killed in the 2024 operations around the Birnin Gwari forest area in Kaduna state. However, he stressed that the security forces had clarified that the earlier mention was a misattribution.
His statement reads in part:
“Security officials now clarify that the earlier listing was a case of mistaken identity or misattribution in the fog of sustained counterinsurgency operations.”
Source: Legit.ng