(Pentagon) The US has revealed that on Friday night they used two F-15 aircraft to carry out an airstrike on a compound in the city of Derna in which to take out Abu Nabil, aka Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, an Iraqi national and also the Islamic State’s leader in Libya.
In a statement on the airstrike, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said:
In a statement on the airstrike, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said:
“This operation was authorised and initiated prior to the terrorist attack in Paris. On 13 November [Friday], the US military conducted an airstrike in Libya against Abu Nabil, [also known as] Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, an Iraqi national who was a long-time al-Qaida operative and the senior [Isis] leader in Libya. Reporting suggests [Nabil] may also have been the spokesman in the February 2015 Coptic Christian execution video. (Referring to a video which showed the beheading of 21 Copts, most of them Egyptian, and prompted international outrage. Egypt bombed the city of Sirte, Libya, where the executions took place.) “Nabil’s death will degrade [Isis’s] ability to meet the group’s objectives in Libya, including recruiting new [Isis] members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States.While not the first US strike against terrorists in Libya, this is the first US strike against an [Isis] leader in Libya and it demonstrates we will go after [Isis] leaders wherever they operate.”
