Officials told reporters that among the dead was Bilal Sudani, whom the United States calls the head of the Islamic State in Somalia. According to them, the military operation, which took place this week after several months of planning, was approved by President Joe Biden.
Sudani has been in the crosshairs of American intelligence services for several years. He played a key role in financing IS operations in Africa as well as the organization’s affiliate in Afghanistan, one of the US officials told the AP. In 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department registered Sudani initially as a member of another Somali terrorist organization, the Shabaab.
“Due to the remote location of the operation, we estimate that no civilians were injured or killed,” the US military’s Africa Command said in a statement.
Arrest was impracticable
American officials have provided few details about the course of the operation or the circumstances of Sudani’s death. One of the officials said that US forces initially intended to capture Sudani, but that “proved to be unfeasible” in action.
The operation comes days after the African Command said it had carried out a “collective self-defense strike” northeast of the capital Mogadishu, where members of the Somali army faced a fierce attack by more than 100 Shabaab fighters. According to US estimates, around 30 members of this organization linked to the Al Qaeda terrorist network were killed in this operation.
The current offensive by Somali forces against Shabaab is described as the biggest in more than a decade.
The leader of the Islamic State was killed
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