Senior ISIS Leader Bilal al-Sudani killed by US military forces in a special operation in Somalia

Mogadishu: A US military operation has killed a senior ISIS leader and 10 members of the terror group in northern Somalia.

According to US officials, a key regional leader of the Islamic State group, Bilal al-Sudani was killed during a gunfight after US troops descended on a mountainous cave complex in northern Somalia. Around 10 of Sudani's Islamic State associates at the scene were also killed.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a statement said that on orders from the president, 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. The US President authorized the strike earlier this week after consulting with top defense, intelligence, and security officials. 

According to media reports, from his mountain base in northern Somalia, Sudani provided and coordinated funding for IS branches, not only in Africa but also Islamic State Khorasan, the arm operating in Afghanistan.