# US and Nigerian forces strike Islamic State positions in northeastern Nigeria
On the event date, 2026-05-17, the US military's Africa Command said it had carried out additional air strikes against Islamic State fighters in northeastern Nigeria in coordination with the Nigerian government. The statement, reported by Al Jazeera, described the attack as an "additional kinetic" operation and said no US or Nigerian forces were harmed.
The strikes came only days after the United States and Nigeria announced that they had killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, described by Nigerian officials as the second in command of ISIL. In the new attack, AFRICOM said it was continuing to support its partners in a campaign aimed at disrupting fighters operating in a region that has long been a centre of insurgent violence.
The latest action was notable because it showed the cooperation between Washington and Abuja continuing beyond a single high-profile killing. Al Jazeera said the US operation was tied to Nigeria's broader effort against armed groups in the Lake Chad Basin and northeastern states, where Islamic State-linked militants have kept up pressure on civilians and security forces. By framing the attack as part of coordinated counterterrorism work, AFRICOM signalled that it still sees the region as an active front rather than a problem that has been contained.
The report also pointed to the scale of the joint security relationship. According to the same source, dozens of US soldiers have been deployed to Nigeria in recent months to help with intelligence sharing, technical support and assistance to local forces. Nigeria's Defence Headquarters spokesman, Samaila Uba, has said those troops will not serve in direct combat roles, but will operate under Nigerian command. That distinction matters because it defines the political limits of US involvement while still confirming that the two countries are working together on the battlefield.
The announcement came as the United States and Nigeria were already claiming a recent success against the Islamic State affiliate in West Africa Province. Al Jazeera reported that the governments had announced the killing of al-Minuki two days earlier, with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu saying he was targeted along with several lieutenants in a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin. The article said that before joining ISIL in 2015, al-Minuki had been a prominent Boko Haram leader and later played a major role in ISWAP operations.
That background helps explain why the new strikes are significant. If the earlier killing was aimed at degrading the leadership structure, the follow-up attack suggests the campaign was designed to exploit the disruption and keep pressure on the group's remaining networks. A former Nigerian security official quoted by Al Jazeera described the killing of al-Minuki as a blow that could leave a major vacuum in ISWAP's leadership and financing.
The latest air strikes also underline how regional counterterrorism efforts in Nigeria continue to depend on outside support. While the evidence packet does not detail the exact targets or damage assessment from the 2026-05-17 operation, it makes clear that the United States and Nigeria were acting together and that the aim was to reduce the group's ability to plan attacks. For a conflict that has moved through multiple phases over many years, the message of the new attack was straightforward: the campaign against Islamic State-linked fighters in northeastern Nigeria was still active, and both governments were using air power to keep up the pressure.
