Overview

Bilal al-Sudani was a U.S.-designated senior leader of ISIS and formerly al-Shabaab. Al-Sudani served a critical role in expanding ISIS’s activities across Africa and facilitated the necessary funding to support ISIS’s operations across the world. The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated al-Sudani as a Specially Designated National (SDN) in 2012. On January 25, 2023, al-Sudani was killed in a U.S. helicopter raid in northern Somalia.Haley Britzky and Sam Fossum, “US military operation kills senior ISIS leader in Somalia,” CNN, January 26, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/politics/us-isis-leader-killed-somalia/index.html; “Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on a Successful Counterterrorism Operation in Somalia,” White House, January 26, 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/01/26/background-press-call-by-senior-administration-officials-on-a-successful-counterterrorism-operation-in-somalia/.

Prior to joining ISIS, al-Sudani was a member of al-Shabaab. Beginning in 2007, al-Sudani coordinated the transfer of foreign fighters to travel to an al-Shabaab training camp outside Kismayo. Additionally, he facilitated financing for the operations of foreign violent extremists in Somalia. In 2010, al-Sudani facilitated the travel of extremists from Chad through Nairobi and into Somalia. Given his role in sponsoring extremist activity, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated al-Sudani as an SDN on July 5, 2012.“Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on a Successful Counterterrorism Operation in Somalia,” White House, January 26, 2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/01/26/background-press-call-by-senior-administration-officials-on-a-successful-counterterrorism-operation-in-somalia/; “Treasury Targets Regional Actors Fueling Violence and Instability in Somalia,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, July 5, 2012, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/tg1630. .

Al-Sudani reportedly split from al-Shabaab in the mid-2010s to form an ISIS-affiliated group.“Bilal al-Sudani: US forces kill Islamic State Somalia leader in cave complex,” BBC News, January 27, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64423598. Under ISIS, al-Sudani supported the expansion of ISIS’s activities in not only Africa, but beyond the continent. He also provided funding to sustain the operational activities of ISIS’s global network, including the lethal ISIS-K in Afghanistan. According to senior U.S. officials, the same ISIS-K cell al-Sudani funded carried out the August 2021 Kabul Airport attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans.“US forces kill key IS leader in Somalia operation,” Deutsche Welle, January 26, 2023, https://www.dw.com/en/us-forces-kill-key-is-leader-in-somalia-operation/a-64530559; Eric Schmitt, “Ties to Kabul Bombing Put ISIS Leader in Somalia in U.S. Cross Hairs,” New York Times, February 4, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/us/politics/isis-somalia-kabul-bombing.html. Al-Sudani reportedly held a significant role in ISIS’s Al-Karrar regional office which was hosted by ISIS-Somalia. The office was responsible for coordinating ISIS’s activities within and between cells in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, South Africa, the Middle East, and potential cells in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.Katharine Houreld, “Killing of top ISIS militant casts spotlight on group’s broad reach in Africa,” Washington Post, February 3, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/03/bilal-sudani-somalia-islamic-state/.

During al-Sudani’s time at Al-Karrar, the office allocated funds to insurgents from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in eastern Congo and al-Shabaab in Mozambique, groups that pledged allegiance to ISIS in early and mid-2019.Caleb Weiss and Ryan O’Farrell, “Analysis: U.S. Military kills key Islamic State leader in Africa,” Long War Journal, January 27, 2023, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2023/01/analysis-u-s-military-kills-key-islamic-state-leader-in-africa.php. In 2017, Al-Sudani worked closely with the ADF and its external operations coordinator, Meddie Nkalubo (a.k.a. “the Punisher”). ADF received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Somalia through financial networks in both central and southern Africa. ADF barely survived prior to its alliance with ISIS, and the funds the extremist group received proved to be deadly. After 2017, the ADP killed 4,000 civilians in Congo and Uganda—five times the number they had killed in the previous five years.Katharine Houreld, “Killing of top ISIS militant casts spotlight on group’s broad reach in Africa,” Washington Post, February 3, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/03/bilal-sudani-somalia-islamic-state/.

Al-Sudani’s ties also extended to South Africa where he entrusted U.S.-designated Abdella Hussein Abadigga with helping ISIS supporters in South Africa become better organized and recruit more members.“Treasury Sanctions South Africa-based ISIS Organizers and Financial Facilitators,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, March 1, 2022, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0616.

According to a former Somali Special Forces commander, al-Sudani was the most senior foreign ISIS commander in Somalia. Due to his status, Somalia’s U.S.-trained Special Forces and local troops conducted a raid in 2016 in an attempt to capture him.Katharine Houreld, “Killing of top ISIS militant casts spotlight on group’s broad reach in Africa,” Washington Post, February 3, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/03/bilal-sudani-somalia-islamic-state/. On January 25, 2023, the U.S. carried out a raid within the Cal Miskaad Moutains northern Somalia, killing al-Sudani and 10 other ISIS operatives.Haley Britzky and Sam Fossum, “US military operation kills senior ISIS leader in Somalia,” CNN, January 26, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/politics/us-isis-leader-killed-somalia/index.html; Caleb Weiss and Ryan O’Farrell, “Analysis: U.S. Military kills key Islamic State leader in Africa,” Long War Journal, January 27, 2023, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2023/01/analysis-u-s-military-kills-key-islamic-state-leader-in-africa.php.