LONDON, UK – A senior leader of ISIS was killed in an airstrike conducted by the United States in Puntland’s Calm-Miskaad mountains last week, according to the Daily Mail. The leader, identified as Ahmed Maalimine, was reportedly responsible for planning and orchestrating attacks targeting Western countries.
Maalimine, who was believed to have overseen the recruitment, training, and coordination of foreign fighters joining ISIS, also led operations and attacks outside Somalia, the newspaper reported.
Sebastian Gorka, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official, confirmed that Maalimine played a key role in plotting terrorist attacks against nations worldwide.
“This individual was crucial in organizing and coordinating attacks, training foreign fighters, and sending them back to the West to carry out terrorist acts,” Gorka said.
The airstrike, launched from a U.S. naval vessel in the Red Sea, took place on February 1, targeting ISIS fighters in the Calm-Miskaad mountains in the Bari region.
The airstrike carried out by a fighter jet from a U.S. warship the Red Sea led to the deaths of several foreign fighters affiliated with ISIS. Puntland forces reported successes in their ongoing battle against the terrorist group.
This airstrike, ordered by former President Donald Trump, is part of a broader international effort aimed at countering the global threat posed by ISIS and Al-Shabaab in Somalia, with continued military operations targeting the networks of these groups in the Horn of Africa.
