A U.S. airstrike killed the leader of Libya's Islamic State group Friday night, according to the United States Department of Defense.
Abu Nabil, who was from Iraq and has been an operative for al-Qaeda, was the target of said airstrike. He was hit by a missile that was fried from a F-15 fighter/bomber. The operation started even before the attacks happened in Paris, and the mission was not tied to the tragedy, according to NBC New York.
"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," Pentagon spokesperson Peter Cook said, the Voice of America reported.
"While not the first U.S. strike against terrorists in Libya, this is the first U.S. strike against an ISIL leader in Libya, and it demonstrates we will go after ISIL leaders wherever they operate."
Nabil was being targeted months before the operation. The mission highlights how the Obama administration's military campaign is strengthened.
"The first [strike] was successful, but the Reaper stayed on for a secondary strike to ensure that the target was completely hit," a senior official from the Pentagon said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Nabil, also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, has been suggested as the spokesman in the Coptic Christian execution video from February that showed the beheadings of 21 Egyptians, according to the Los Angeles Times.
