Ranchi (PTI): Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was released from Birsa Munda Jail here on Friday after the high court granted bail to him in a money laundering case linked to a land scam, an official said.

As Soren stepped out of the jail, a large number of JMM supporters cheered and raised slogans in favour of him.

Soren's wife Kalpana Soren, a JMM legislator, thanked the judiciary and people for their support.

"Heman Soren was released from the jail after completion of legal formalities," the official said.

Soren, on his release from the jail, was seen waving at people and seeking blessings from his father and JMM supremo Shibu Soren.

A single bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay granted bail to the former chief minister of Jharkhand earlier in the day.

"...The petitioner is directed to be released on bail on furnishing bail bond of Rs 50,000 with two sureties of the like amount each," said the order passed by Justice Mukhopadhyay.

Soren, the executive president of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31 in connection with its investigation into the money laundering case.

 

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Washington (AP): President Donald Trump said US and Nigerian forces killed a leader of the Islamic State group in Nigeria in a mission carried out Friday.

Trump announced the joint operation in a late-night social media post that offered few details. He said Abu Bakr al-Mainuki was second in command of the Islamic State group globally and “thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.”

The US viewed Al-Mainuki as the key figure in IS organising and finance, and believed he was plotting attacks against the United States and its interests, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to share sensitive information.

Born in Nigeria's Borno province in 1982, al-Mainuki took the helm of the IS branch in West Africa after the group's previous leader in the region, Mamman Nur, was killed in 2018, according to the Counter Extremism Project, which tracks militant groups.

Al-Mainuki was based in the Sahel area, the monitoring group said, adding that it is believed that he fought in Libya when IS was active in the North African nation more than a decade ago. He was sanctioned by the US in 2023.

Trump in December directed US forces to launch strikes against the Islamic State group in Nigeria, though he released little detail then about the impact.

Nigeria has been battling multiple armed groups, including at least two affiliated with IS.

The Friday night operation was the latest instance in a string of covert missions abroad that Trump has announced this year, starting with the stunning overnight raid in January to capture and remove Venezuela's then-leader Nicolás Maduro and whisk him to the US, followed nearly two months later by the launch of strikes that kicked off the war with Iran.