US army kills IS leader in Somalia Switzerland: Inequality in the country has risen again

In Somalia, US troops have killed one of the suspected key members of the Islamic State (IS) terror militia in Africa, Bilal Al-Sudani. The White House announced on Thursday that about ten other extremists were killed in the operation in the north of the country. Al-Sudani was a “key player and facilitator for the global network” of IS.

According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, al-Sudani played a key role in promoting the various ISIS affiliates on the African continent. He was also active in Afghanistan. He previously belonged to the Islamist terrorist militia Al-Shabaab. The US government did not provide specific details about the nature of the operation.

No US soldiers or civilians were killed or seriously injured during the operation, it said. Actually, the goal was to capture al-Sudani. However, this was ultimately not possible due to the “reaction of the enemy forces”. The deployment itself had been extensively practiced beforehand by the US armed forces.

The US had had al-Sudani on its radar since 2012 because of its terrorist activities. The White House said it was still recruiting fighters for the Al-Shabaab terror militia, which also operated in Somalia. Last year, authorities linked him to a South African IS supporter with whom he organized fighter recruitment and funded training in IS terror camps. Initially, nothing was known about al-Sudani’s age or nationality.

After the so-called Islamic State lost much of its sphere of influence in the Middle East, the terror group is increasingly turning to the African continent, according to the findings of the ICCT think tank. Accordingly, the IS conducted more than half of its operations in Africa last year. In the first half of the year, there were more IS attacks in Nigeria than in Iraq. In addition to Somalia and Nigeria, armed groups in Congo, Mozambique and some countries in the Sahel zone are also committed to IS.

The US is part of the Africa Focus Group of the international alliance against IS, founded in 2021. The United States also supports Somalia in its fight against Islamists, including with drones. Almost a year ago, the US military killed then IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Kurashi in Syria.

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(t online)