In northern Somalia, a senior ISIL leader was recently killed during an operation carried out by the United States military, according to US officials.
The ISIL senior in Somalia who had been targeted by the US as a major facilitator for ISIS’s global network, Bilal al-Sudani, was reportedly killed in the operation, according to a recent statement from Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin.
Austin said, “Al-Sudani was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan.”
The operation was carried out on January 25 after President Joe Biden gave his approval earlier in the week, the statement added.
No other information was provided regarding the operation, not even the number of US soldiers that took part or how the US military conducted the operation.
Meanwhile, ten of al-Sudani’s accomplices were also slain in the operation, US sources said in an anonymous statement to Reuters.
Al-Sudani received a punishment from the US Department of Treasury in 2012 for his part in arranging funding for foreign combatants to visit an al-Shabab training facility.
Following the election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, a Somali government offensive against al-Shabab started in August 2022 and has since achieved substantial progress.
However, the group has retaliated with a series of attacks across the nation. The group has been battling since 2007 to overthrow Somalia’s government and impose its rigid version of Islamic law.
