The Nigeria Military said no fewer 175 Islamic State fighters in the northeast were killed in joint airstrikes by the United States and Nigerian troops.
In a statement signed by the Director of Defence Information, Major General Samaila Uba, on Tuesday,it said the operations inflicted what it described as a “devastating blow” on terrorist networks operating within the region, with several strategic targets destroyed during the offensive.
An AFRICOM spokesman confirmed the toll of 175 among the jihadists.
AFRICOM commander General Dagvin Anderson told a Congressional hearing in Washington that Nigeria had been “instrumental throughout the last several months, developing the target, helping us with the intelligence, and providing support”.
The development comes a few days after the US and Nigerian forces killed Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, an IS leader described as the “most active terrorist” in the world, at a remote village in the northeast.
According to the Nigerian Military and AFRICOM,Al – Minuki ,as director of global operations for IS, provided strategic guidance on media and financial operations and “the development and manufacturing of weapons, explosives and drones”,)
The statement further said the operations in the last few days have killed other key IS figures.
They include Abd-al Wahhab, said to be a “senior leader” of ISWAP, “responsible for coordinating attacks and distributing propaganda”.
Abu Musa al-Mangawi was said to be a high-ranking ISWAP member, while Abu al-Muthanna al-Muhajir was a “senior media production team manager and close confidant to al-Minuki”.
“Several key ISIS leaders” were killed, Anderson said
.
