David Smith and
Tom McCarthy of the
Guardian confirm
CNN reports that the United States has killed Ahmed Abdi Godane, the co-founder and active leader of Al-Shabaab, the militant Islamist group affiliated with al-Qaeda in Africa.
Al-Shabaab co-founder confirmed killed by US air strike in Somalia.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby announced the strike in Somalia, and said the strike, which occurred earlier in the week, was a ‘major symbolic and operational loss’ for the militants.
At least three strikes hit a convoy of al-Shabaab vehicles in southern Somalia on Monday night, according to witnesses and a spokesman for the group who spoke later with the Associated Press. The al-Shabaab representative said that six al-Shabaab fighters had been killed in the strikes.
The air raid came days after African Union (AU) troops and Somali government forces launched “Operation Indian Ocean”, a major offensive aimed at seizing key ports from al-Shabaab and cutting off one of their key sources of revenue: multi-million dollar exports of charcoal. AU forces were targeting Shabaab on several fronts, with Ugandan troops leading the offensives against the main port of Barawe, south of the capital, Mogadishu.
Al-Shabaab is fighting to topple Somalia’s western-backed government and regularly launches bombings and gun attacks against state targets and civilians. Godane’s death could now lead to an internal power struggle.
Somalia is frequently described as a failed state with large regions controlled by rebel forces.