The U.S. military reportedly conducted a late-May airstrike targeting global ISIS leader Abdul Qadir Mumin hiding out in Somalia but has yet to confirm if he was killed.
Mumin is the Director of National Intelligence targeted leader of the ISIS-Somalia call of the U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and was believed to be hiding in Somalia for the May 31 airstrike announced by U.S. Africa Command.
NBC News sources confirmed he was the target of those strikes but officials have been unable to confirm if the ISIS leader was killed. Three unidentified terrorists were killed in the strike with no civilian casualties.
"U.S. Africa Command takes great measures to prevent civilian casualties," the May 31 statement read. "Protecting innocent civilians remains a vital part of the command’s operations to promote a more secure and stable Africa.
"ISIS has conducted numerous attacks globally, including terrorist attacks in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, all while continuing to plot against U.S. homeland and personnel and interests around the world, as well as regional partners, and others globally. U.S. Africa Command, alongside its partners, continues to take action to prevent this terrorist group from planning and conducting attacks, which disproportionately harms civilians.
"Somalia remains central to the security environment in East Africa. U.S. Africa Command"s forces will continue training, advising, and equipping partner forces to degrade ISIS."
The Biden administration has targeted global terrorist networks with its "over-the-horizon" capabilities worldwide after the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which left 13 U.S. servicemembers dead in a terrorist bombing at a refugee escape route.
U.S. Africa Command is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
The U.S. Treasury Department said Friday the United States and Turkey are working together to crack down on a human smuggling network linked to ISIS.
After a probe closely coordinated with Ankara, Washington imposed sanctions on four individuals, three of whom were involved in the network, it said in a statement.
"As a result of this close cooperation, [Turkey] is concurrently taking its own domestic action against this network," it said.
The statement did not say how long the group had been operating or how many people it had smuggled.
In May, Turkish authorities said they had detained 41 people suspected of having ties to ISIS in operations across 12 provinces. Islamic State controlled one third of Iraq and Syria at its 2014 peak and though beaten back, it continues to wage insurgent attacks.
Information from Reuters was used to compile this report.
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