Pentagon: Somali terror group leader killed in U.S. airstrike
Friday, September 5, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says U.S. officials have confirmed the death of the leader of the al-Shabaab terror group in a U.S. airstrike on Monday.
The Pentagon’s press secretary confirmed the death of Ahmed Abdi Godane in a brief written statement Friday.
“Godane’s removal is a major symbolic and operational loss to the largest al Qaeda affiliate in Africa and reflects years of painstaking work by our intelligence, military and law enforcement professionals,” the White House said in a statement.
 This undated and unlocated picture provided by US website ‘Rewards for Justice’ shows Ahmed Abdi Godane. |
U.S. officials had said after the strike on Monday that U.S. special operations forces using manned and drone aircraft had destroyed an encampment and a vehicle using several Hellfire missiles and laser-guided munitions. But they did not confirm that Godane had been killed until Friday.
Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, is the group’s spiritual leader under whose direction the Somali militants forged an alliance with al Qaeda.
The U.S. has carried out several airstrikes in Somalia recent years.
A U.S. missile strike in January killed a high-ranking intelligence officer for al-Shabaab, and last October a vehicle carrying senior members of the group was hit in a U.S. strike that killed al-Shabaab’s top explosives expert.
Al-Shabaab gained international notoriety a year ago this month when it attacked the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people. The U.S. strike on Monday targeted Godane and other planners of the bloody assault on the mall, officials said.
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