| A bit more on this story from yesterday. |
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
terrorist group (ISIS) in Somalia, and 10 other ISIS fighters have been killed in a U.S. military operation in northern Somalia.
The military raid was carried out by the U.S Special Operations Forces on a cave complex in northern Somalia on Wednesday night, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
New York Times
... which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reports that Bilal al Sudani, whom the officials described as a key operative and controller of the terror group’s global network, was the target of the raid.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement that al-Sudani was "responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan."
President Joe
The Big GuyBiden
...46th president of the U.S. We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing...
was said to have ordered the operation after Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommended it.
The officials said no civilians were maimed or killed in the operation, but they did not identify any of the 10 others killed beyond characterizing them as ISIS operatives.
According to the report, the only injury the officials reported was a U.S. service member who was bitten by one of the American military service dogs.
The operation took place in a mountainous area in northern Somalia and followed months of planning, the officials said.
"[There were] extensive rehearsals of the operation itself by our military forces," one senior administration official said, "including at sites specifically built to recreate the terrain where the operation ultimately needed to take place ... [T]he actual execution [was] careful, precise and effective."
The operation yielded some intelligence, but the senior administration officials declined to provide specifics.
"Our intelligence community expects to glean valuable information from this operation as well, demonstrating our continued emphasis on maximizing intelligence collection," one official said.
| NDtv adds: |
Ten years ago, before he joined the Islamic State, Sudani was involved in recruiting and training fighters for al-Shabaab.
| Garowe points out that Bilal al-Sudani is from Sudan, adding: |
The US has been partnering with the Somali National Army, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS], and local militia in the fight against the extremists. This week, the Somali government announced that around 300 militants were killed in operations at Gal'ad and Haradhere towns.