... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
network in an operation in Somalia on Monday, the Pentagon said, in a strike a Somali official said targeted the group's runaway leader.
Pentagon front man Rear Adm. John Kirby said the US was assessing the results and would provide more information when appropriate. No further details were available.
A senior Somali intelligence official said a US drone targeted al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane as he left a meeting of the group's top leaders. Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, is the group's spiritual leader under whose direction the Somali turbans forged an alliance with al-Qaeda.
The Somali official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
since he was not authorized to speak to the media, said intelligence indicated Godane "might have been killed along with other Death Eaters." The official said the attack took place in a forest near Sablale district, 105 miles (170 kilometers) south of Mogadishu, where al-Shabaab trains its fighters.
The governor of Somalia's Lower Shabelle region, Abdiqadir Mohammed Nor, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that as government and African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
forces were heading to a town in Sablale district, they heard what sounded like an "earthquake" as drones struck al-Shabaab bases. "There was an
The US has carried out several
A US 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 US strike that killed al-Shabaab's top explosives expert.
The latest US action comes after Somalia's government forces regained control of a high-security prison in the capital that was attacked on Sunday by seven heavily armed suspected Islamic turbans who attempted to free other holy warriors held there. The Pentagon statement did not indicate whether the U.S. action was related to the prison attack.
Somali officials said all the seven attackers, three government soldiers and two non-combatants were killed. Mogadishu's Godka Jilacow prison is an interrogation center for Somalia's intelligence agency, and many suspected turbans are believed to be held in underground cells there.
Al-Shabaab grabbed credit for the attack that shattered a period of calm in Mogadishu after two decades of chaotic violence. The attack started when a suicide boom-mobileer detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of the prison, followed by gunnies who fought their way into the prison.
It was al-Shabaab gunnies who attacked the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, with guns and grenades last September, killing at least 67 people. Al-Shabaab had threatened retaliation against Kenya for sending troops into Somalia against the krazed killers. Godane said the attack was carried out in retaliation for the West's support for Kenya's Somalia intervention and the "interest of their oil companies."
Al-Shabaab is now mostly active in Somalia's rural regions, after being ousted from the capital by African Union forces in 2011. But the group is still able to launch lethal attacks -- often involving turbans on suicide missions -- within Mogadishu, the seat of government.
Somali military officials last week launched a military operation to oust al-Shabaab from its last remaining bases in the southern parts of Somalia. However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
on Saturday the town of Bulomarer, which is about 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Mogadishu, was seized from turbans after hours of fighting.