A leader of the Daesh group, identified as Bilal al-Sudani, and “a dozen people” linked to the terrorist organization were killed this Wednesday in a US incursion into Somalia, the US Executive reported Thursday.
“Al-Sudani was responsible for encouraging the growing presence of the Islamic State group in Africa and financing its operations around the world, including in Afghanistan,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
This operation, prepared for “several months”, caused no casualties in the civilian population or among the US military, said a senior White House official during an interview with journalists.
“We were ready to capture it”
The senior official, who did not want to be named, said the raid was preceded by “intensive rehearsals” by US forces, at sites “specifically built” to mimic the terrain where it took place, a cavern in the mountains north of Somalia.
“We were ready to capture al-Sudani,” he said.
Joe “Biden has made it very clear that we are committed to finding and eliminating all terrorist threats against the United States and against the American people, wherever they may be, even in the most remote places,” another White House official said.
Last August, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed on his balcony in Afghanistan by a US drone strike.
Source: BFM TV
