A Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, who advocates dialogue and amnesty for bandits and terrorists, has said that while it is a religious obligation to kill terrorists, they should not be killed by bloodstained hands.

Mr Gumi, who in December last year described the United States as a country with bloodstained hands after U.S. forces struck terrorists in Sokoto State, opposed the killing of ISIS second-in-command Al-Manuki in a Facebook post on Saturday. 

“It’s a religious obligation to annihilate terrorists, but not with Beelzebub and hands stained with the blood of innocent men, women, and children,” Mr Gumi said. 

The cleric’s cryptic Facebook post followed President Donald Trump’s announcement that Abu-Bilal Al-Munuki had been eliminated by the U.S. and Nigerian forces on Friday. 

The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) on Saturday released footage of the airstrikes in which ISIS top leader Mr Al-Manuki and other members of his group were killed.

The Trump administration said the killing of Abu-Bilal Al-Manuki and his fighters on Nigerian soil was a reminder that the U.S. forces would continue to pursue enemies of the United States and those killing Christians around the world.