Bilal al-Sudani, a leader of the Islamic State, and ten of his agents were killed by US forces in northern Somalia, according to American sources.
After US special forces assaulted a remote mountain cave complex in an attempt to arrest him, he was slain.
“Al-Sudani was responsible for the expansion of ISIS in Africa,” stated Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Mr. Austin said that he also reportedly funded the group’s global activities.
The fact that US troops were dispatched by President Joe Biden to kill or arrest Sudani. As opposed to a less risky drone operation, suggests his significance, according to analysts.
According to the New York Times, the soldiers were flown in by helicopter, and a gunbattle ensued. Which resulted in the deaths of several Sudanese.
President Biden redeployed hundreds of US troops to the country after his predecessor, Donald Trump, had withdrawn them. However, according to reports, these forces are solely there to teach Somali soldiers and not to conduct operations.
In recent years, the Islamic State is said to have expanded its operations into numerous African nations, including Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
However, Islamic State is a very small organization in Somalia. But the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab controls large portions of the country’s south.
Before joining Islamic State, the Sudani allegedly assisted in the training of fighters for al-Shabab.
An anonymous US official told the AFP news agency that he is accused of having a “financial role with specialized talents that made him a significant target for US counterterrorism action.”
The effort to target Sudani reportedly required months of planning.
According to Voice of America’s news website, Somalia has applauded the death of Sudani.
“It’s a very good and hospitable environment,” said the Somali government’s adviser on security, Hussein Sheikh Ali.
He emphasized that the Islamic State posed a lesser threat than al-Shabab in Somalia, but that the Sudanese were “scary.”
“The message is that none of the leaders of Somalia’s terrorist organizations are safe,” he concluded.
IS Somalia is one of the organization’s minor branches, claiming 32 attacks in 2022, most of which occurred in Mogadishu, the city.
According to a UN report from the previous year, the number of Islamic State fighters in Somalia is between 200 and 280. And the country is used to finance IS activity in Iraq and the Levant.
IS issued a rare propaganda video from its Somalia branch last week, depicting combat footage of engagements with Somali soldiers in a hilly region of northeastern Bari.
The attack occurs less than a week after the United States announced that a drone strike killed thirty al-Shabab fighters.
In recent months, Somalia’s pro-government forces have made advances against al-Shabab.
