US forces have long supported Somalia in the face of militant militants (archive)
The United States said that its special forces killed a senior figure of the Islamic State in Somalia, along with 10 of his accomplices.
Bilal al-Sudani is said to have been a key figure in the financing and expansion of the militant Islamist group’s influence throughout Africa and beyond.
Officials say he was killed in a shootout after they raided a compound in a remote mountainous cave area in northern Somalia, hoping to capture him.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that no civilians were hurt in what he described as a “successful counterterrorism operation”.
Analysts say the fact that troops were sent to kill or capture al-Sudani, rather than using a drone strike – which is less risky – indicates its importance.
US forces have long worked in Somalia in coordination with and on behalf of the government, often conducting regular air strikes in support of official forces fighting the Al-Shabaab insurgents.
Since Joe Biden became president in 2021, airstrikes have dropped to just 16 in 2022, and no ground strikes have been recorded, according to data compiled by the national security think tank New America.
On Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement, “On January 25, on orders from the President, the US military conducted an offensive operation in northern Somalia that resulted in the killing of several ISIS members, including Bilal Al-Sudani.”
“Al-Sudani was responsible for promoting the Islamic State’s growing presence in Africa and financing the group’s operations around the world, including in Afghanistan,” Austin added.
A US official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that the operation had been prepared for months, as US forces trained in a site built to simulate the terrain in which the Sudanese was hiding.
The official added that Biden authorized the strike earlier in the week after consulting with senior defense, intelligence and security officials.
Another Biden administration official said, “In the end, it decided (to carry out) an arrest operation as the best option to maximize the intelligence value of the operation and increase its accuracy in difficult terrain.”
However, the official said, “the response of the hostile forces to the operation led to his death.”
