Officials with the U.S. Military were able to successfully take down a top-level ISIS leader, along with just about a dozen other operatives of the group, as part of an ongoing operation taking place in Africa this past week.
AN explanation was handed down to CNN by a senior administration official which stated that an operation was carried out in a “mountainous cave complex in northern Somalia” at which ISIS was planning its expansion into Africa and beyond.
“Given the remote location of the operation, the assessment is that no civilians were injured or killed,” stated officials with the U.S. Africa Command in a release. “Protecting civilians remains a vital part of the command’s operations to promote greater security for all Africans.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin officially confirmed that U.S. forces were able to kill ISIS leader Bilal-al-Sudani.
“On January 25, on orders from the President, the U.S. military conducted an assault operation in northern Somalia that resulted in the death of a number of ISIS members, including Bilal-al-Sudani, an ISIS leader in Somalia and a key facilitator for ISIS’s global network,” explained Austin. “Al-Sudani was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan.”
The official who reached out to talk with CNN also stated that the U.S. forces were wanting to take al-Sudani into custody alive, but the response from the terrorists ended up making such a reality entirely impossible, and al-Sudani, alongside a large gropup of ten various other terrorists, ended up being killed.
Military reports seemed to indicate that only one single service member ended up hurt throughout the course of the entire operation due to being bitten by another American military canine unit.
The U.S. military conducted a successful counterterrorism operation in Somalia. https://t.co/F6MCDYLqwP pic.twitter.com/HHIW8VC3nZ
— US AFRICOM (@USAfricaCommand) January 26, 2023
