ISIL leader in Libya killed in airstrike by F-15s from RAF Lakenheath

Two fighter bombers from RAF Lakenheath were used in a US military airstrike which killed ISIL’s leader in Libya.

The target of the airstrike on Friday, November 13 was Abu Nabil, the senior leader of ISIL in Libya and a longtime al-Qaida operative.

It was carried out by a pair of F-15 aircraft from 48th Fighter Wing. which had flown from the USAF base in Lakenheath to Libya.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said that this operation was authorised and initiated before the terrorist attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people and injured hundreds more that Friday night.

In a statement on the airstrike, Mr Cook said: “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 longtime al-Qaida operative and the senior Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leader in Libya.

“Nabil’s death will degrade ISIL’s ability to meet the group’s objectives in Libya, including recruiting new ISIL members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States.”

Mr Cook added: “While this was not the first US strike against terrorists in Libya, this is the first US strike against an ISIL leader in Libya, and it demonstrates that the United States will go after ISIL leaders wherever they operate.”