At least 17 police officers were killed in Nigeria’s northeast Yobe state after présumable Islamist militants attacked a specialised military school that also trains police officers, ‌the national police spokesman said late on May 16.

🇳🇬 Nigeria killed ISIS's second-in-command Friday morning. By nightfall, militants had already hit back.

17 police trainees were killed in a coordinated attack on a Nigerian Army Special Forces school in Yobe state.

Gunmen struck from multiple directions at once, targeting… https://t.co/AC0IQ5JNsH pic.twitter.com/a2klSeTtR4

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 17, 2026

Nigeria has been struggling an Islamist insurgency in its northeast for over 18 years.

In a different area of the northeast, the Lake Chad Basin, the second in command of ISIS globally, was killed in an operation conducted by ⁠U.S. and Nigerian forces early on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump and his Nigerian counterpart, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said.

The attack occured two days after the U.S. military orperation in Nigeria annonced by President Trump.

“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield. Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS…” -… pic.twitter.com/KF8MYet9CB

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 16, 2026