US Eliminates “Key Operator and Facilitator of Global ISIS Network” in Somalia

The US military carried out a “precision operation” in northern Somalia that killed Bilal al-Sudani, a “key operator and facilitator”, senior US officials said on Thursday.

Al-Sudani was killed on January 25 inside the mountain cave complex where he was staying after “careful planning”, according to the officials, who said 10 ISIS compatriots died with him.

The operation occurred in a remote mountain cave complex inside the troubled nation in the Horn of Africa, where both Islamic State and al-Shabab operate and clash with government forces.

Officials revealed little information about the nature of the operation, including exactly how the US carried out the ‘kinetic operation’. In the past, the US has used armed drones, attack helicopters, and bunker-busting bombs to eliminate terrorist targets.

President Biden authorized the operation last week, after “careful consideration of its risks and benefits” by a team of officials that recommended the action. The development comes days after an explosion ripped through buildings near the mayor’s office in Mogadishu, and after a US military strike killed nearly 30 Al-Shabaab fighters near the town of Galcad.

Police officers stand near the bodies of suspected Al-Shabaab militants who were killed after the siege of the Mogadishu Municipality headquarters in Mogadishu on January 22, 2023. The US announced an operation had eliminated the key ISIS agent Bilal al-Sudani in northern Somalia

The Defense Department briefed Biden on the operation, which took months to complete, after planning reached a “critical stage” last week. He was joined by his Director of National Intelligence, counterterrorism advisers, the deputy director of the CIA, the attorney general, and other high-level members of the team before the operation.

The officials said that the “intended capture” of Al-Sudani was considered the “best option” for intelligence gathering and other reasons. That came after a “careful evaluation” of whether “alternative options existed… with even lower risk.”

According to a statement by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the US military “conducted an assault operation in northern Somalia that resulted in the deaths of several ISIS members,” including al-Sudani.

Austin said he was “responsible for fostering ISIS’s growing presence in Africa and funding the group’s operations around the world, including in Afghanistan.”

He said it “leaves the United States and its partners safer and more secure” and reflects our “firm commitment” to protecting Americans from terrorist threats. No civilians were injured, she said.

One official said that even the planned capture operation could result in the death of the target, “as it ultimately did.”

Officials spoke enthusiastically about planning and precision, though details are withheld for now.

The planning included the construction of a special site to recreate the mountainous terrain. The execution was ‘careful, precise and effective’. The only injury for the US, even amid the bloodshed, was a “dog bite from one of our own canines to one of our own service members.” That precise.

“Fortunately, and based on extensive planning and exquisite execution of the plan, there were no US military or civilian casualties,” the official said.

“We had prepared for the possibility of capturing Sudani, but the hostile force’s response to the operation resulted in his death,” the official said, without elaborating on what precisely led to his death.

Al-Sudani backed the terror group’s expansion into Africa and beyond, according to the administration, including the Khorosan branch of ISIS in Afghanistan, known as ISIS-K, “one of the deadliest branches,” an administration official said. .

In May, Biden ordered the deployment of hundreds of US special forces back to Somalia after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew most of the 700 ground forces there. approving a hit list of al-Shabaab leaders.