(Washington) A leader of the Islamic State group, identified as Bilal al-Sudani, and “about ten people” linked to the terrorist organization were killed on Wednesday in an American raid in Somalia, the American executive said on Thursday.
“Al-Sudani was responsible for encouraging the Islamic State group’s growing presence in Africa and funding 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 either in the civilian population or among the American military, said a senior White House official during an interview with journalists.
The senior official, who did not wish to be identified, said the raid was preceded by “intensive rehearsals” by US forces, at sites “specifically constructed” to mimic the terrain where it took place, a cave in the mountains of northern Somalia.
“We were ready to capture al-Sudani,” she 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 are, even in the most remote places,” another claimed. official of the White House.
Last August, the leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed on his balcony in Afghanistan by an American drone strike.