About 10 Sudanese Islamic State affiliates were killed at the scene, the official said.
Washington:
Bilal al-Sudani, a prominent regional leader of the Islamic State group, was killed in a US military raid in Somalia ordered by President Joe Biden, US officials said on Thursday.
Sudani was killed in a shootout after American troops descended on a mountain cave complex in northern Somalia hoping to capture him, according to US officials.
About 10 Sudanese Islamic State affiliates were killed at the scene, officials said, but there were no American casualties.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement, “On January 25, on orders from the president, US forces conducted an assault operation in northern Somalia that resulted in the killing of several ISIS members, including Bilal al-Sudani.”
Austin said al-Sudani was “responsible for fostering ISIS’ growing presence in Africa and funding the group’s operations around the world, including Afghanistan.”
A US official said on condition of anonymity that from his mountain base in northern Somalia, he coordinated and provided funding for IS branches not only in Africa but also in Islamic-State Khorasan.
Ten years ago, before joining the Islamic State, Sudani was involved in recruiting and training fighters for the extremist al-Shabaab movement in Somalia.
“Sudanese had a key operational and financial role with special skills that made him a prime target for US counterterrorism operations,” the official said.
– Months of planning –
The operation was prepared over a period of months, with US forces rehearsing at a site designed to replicate the area where the Sudanese were hiding.
The official said Biden authorized the strike earlier this week after consulting with top defense, intelligence and security officials.
Another administration official said, “An intended capture operation was ultimately the best option to maximize the intelligence value of the operation and increase its accuracy in the challenging terrain.”
However, “he died as a result of hostile forces reaction to the operation,” the official said.
The official said the only injury to an American in the raid was that a US military service dog had bitten a soldier.
“With this operation and all others, President Biden has made it very clear that we are committed to finding and eliminating terrorist threats to the United States and the American people, no matter how far they hide,” the official said. “
US forces have long been working with and on behalf of the government in Somalia, conducting regular airstrikes to support official forces fighting mostly Shabaab rebels.
Some of them are believed to have been operated from a US base in Djibouti, in the north of Somalia.
US airstrikes in Somalia increased to dozens a year during 2017–2020, but each year also included two to four ground operations.
Since Biden became president in 2021, airstrikes are down to just 16 in 2022, and no ground strikes have been recorded, according to data compiled by New America, a national security think tank.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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