January 26, 2023

Senior ISIS Leader Killed in Successful Counterterrorism Operation in Somalia

Washington, DC – On January 25, on orders from President Biden, the US 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.

Senior administration officials said that military officials were prepared to capture al-Sudani alive, but the response by ISIS forces led to his death. No American service members or civilians suffered casualties in this operation.

Al-Sudani led ISIS’s expansion and activities across Africa and worldwide by providing funding to support the organization’s operations, including ISIS’s Khorasan branch in Afghanistan, one of the terrorist group’s most lethal branches, officials said.

“This action leaves the United States and its partners safer and more secure, and it reflects our steadfast commitment to protecting Americans from the threat of terrorism at home and abroad,” said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III in a statement. “We are grateful to our extraordinary service members as well as our intelligence community and other interagency partners for their support to this successful counterterrorism operation,” he said.

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