The Presidency has confirmed the killing of Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki, a senior Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) commander, in a joint Nigeria–United States military operation, while clarifying that earlier reports suggesting he had been killed in 2024 were inaccurate.

The clarification was issued by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

According to him, intelligence and security agencies have now established that Al-Manuki’s name was wrongly included in earlier 2024 battlefield assessments that claimed he had been eliminated during operations around the Birnin Gwari forest axis in Kaduna State.

He explained that the earlier listing was a case of “mistaken identity or misattribution in the fog of sustained counterinsurgency operations,” noting that intelligence reviews later confirmed the target previously reported killed was not the same individual.

Onanuga added that current security assessments show the Birnin Gwari area was not part of Al-Manuki’s operational zone, further invalidating the earlier claim.

He stated that the latest joint operation, carried out by Nigerian and U.S. forces in the Lake Chad Basin, followed months of intelligence gathering, surveillance, and communications tracking.

According to him, security agencies monitored the suspect’s movements across multiple locations, including parts of northern Nigeria, before executing the final strike.

The Presidency stressed that, unlike the earlier misreport, the recent operation was carried out with multiple layers of verification and a high level of confidence regarding the identity of the target.

US President Donald Trump had earlier announced that Al-Manuki, described as a top ISIS commander and second-in-command globally, was killed in a “meticulously planned and very complex mission,” a statement later confirmed by President Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu, in his reaction, described the operation as a strong example of Nigeria–US cooperation in the fight against terrorism and said it dealt a significant blow to extremist networks in the region.

Security officials maintain that the latest assessment leaves “no ambiguity” about the identity of the individual killed in the operation.