ISIS terror leader at large after US strike kills top commander amid rising Africa threat: analyst
ISIS shadow commander Abu Bilal al Minuki West AfricaAfter being protected for decades by “deep local networks” across the region, he was killed on May 16 using what one extremism analyst described as one of the most difficult forms of intelligence to detect.
The murder dealt one of the biggest blows to ISIS’s global network in recent years. Operations in northeastern NigeriaThe terror group’s top leader, Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qureshi, remains at large as Africa becomes the global epicenter of the movement.
“There is no single ISIS ‘hub’ in Nigeria; ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) operates dozens of small, volatile camps scattered throughout the Lake Chad islands and Borno bush.” Dr. Omer MuhammadGW Extremism Program Senior Research Fellow told Fox News Digital:
“Al-Minuki would have nothing” smartphones“Instead, we rely on courier-based communication and constant movement between these smaller camps,” he said.
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Abu Bilal al Minuki, ISIS’s shadow commander in West Africa, was killed on May 16.
(Getty Images)
Minister Donald TrumpMuhammad explained that the explicit reference to “sources informing us” directly points to human intelligence, or HUMINT (the most difficult type of intelligence to detect or counter a target).
The precision strike successfully penetrated defenses that had been held for years.
“It would leverage deep local networks Nigerian army is in a difficult situation will penetrate for more than a decade,” Mohammed added.
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“Its operational security would be very serious,” Mohammed said. “But two things eventually disrupt even careful goals: Time creates patterns, and human resources are extremely difficult to beat.”
“Despite serious operational security, al-Minuki was ultimately compromised through persistent human intelligence,” he said. “Al-Minuki knew he was marked.”
ISIS caliph Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi is thought to have fled to Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region.
The Nigerian military described the attack as “an attack”. meticulously planned and extremely complex The “precision air ground operation” was carried out between midnight and 4am on Saturday in Metele, in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria.
US Africa Command or AFRICOMThe Nigerian army carried out the attack, which its communications pointed to specifically in the Metele region, in the northeast of Nigeria.
Despite tactical success, the current ISIS “caliph” or overall leader remains at large to reports.
Muhammad claimed that Al-Qurayshi “was chosen after the death of his predecessor in Syria.”
“He is deliberately being brazen, analysts describe this line of leaders as ‘caliphs of the shadows,'” Mohammed said, noting that Al-Qurayshi took over the leadership after Turkish officials. Killed his predecessor in 2023.
Although al-Qureshi’s exact location is unknown, reports indicate that he was traveling from Syria or Iraq via Yemen to the semi-autonomous Puntland region of Somalia.
“This is also where the financial center is located, so the entire center of gravity of the organization (leadership, finance, operational direction) has been quietly disabled. Moving to Africa for years” said Muhammad.
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Data Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project This report confirms this regional shift, showing that more than two-thirds of the Islamic State’s global activities now occur in Africa.
“Africa has transitioned from a peripheral theater to an operational and financial arena center of global ISIS activityexplained Mohammed. “Africa is no longer a theater on the periphery. This is the real deal. Financing is largely local and exploitative (taxation, ransom, smuggling) and that’s exactly why these nets are very durable“
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“Al-Minuki, for example, rose through ISWAP and operated throughout the Lake Chad Basin and into the broader Sahel,” he said.
“Still, surveillance of Al Minuki is the most significant blow to ISIS’s global leadership architecture. Baghdadi raid in 2019“Mohammed was executed in the theater hall that had become the quietly beating heart of the group,” he said, adding that the attack “was not a one-off kinetic moment.”
Original article source: ISIS terror leader freed after US strike kills top commander amid growing African threat: analyst
