A U.S. drone
reportedly targeted the leader of the Al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group in a
strike in southern Somalia Monday.
Pentagon Press
Secretary John Kirby provided few details about the nature of the operation,
the results of which he said were being assessed.
"We are
assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information
as and when appropriate," he said in a statement. There was no
immediate comment from al-Shabaab.
A senior Somali
official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that a
U.S. drone targeted al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane as he left a meeting of
the group's top leaders. The official told AP that intelligence indicated
Godane "might have been killed along with other militants."
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 official said
that the strike took place in a forest near Sablale district, 105 miles south
of Mogadishu, where the group trains its fighters. The governor of Somalia's
Lower Shabelle region, Abdiqadir Mohamed Nor, told The Associated Press that as
government and African Union forces were heading to a town in Sablale district,
they heard something that sounded like an "earthquake" as drones
struck al-Shabaab bases.
"There was an
airstrike near Sablale, we saw something," Nor said.
After the U.S. strike
Monday night, masked Islamic militants arrested dozens of residents suspected
of spying for the U.S. and searched nearby homes, a resident said.
"Mass arrests
just started, everyone is being detained," said Mohamed Ali, who lives in
Sablale district. "They even searched nearby jungles and stopped the
nomads transporting milk and grass to the towns for questioning."
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-Shabab, and last
October a vehicle carrying senior members of the group was hit in a U.S. strike
that killed al-Shabab's top explosives expert.
The U.S. action comes
after Somalia's government forces regained control of a high security prison in
the capital that was attacked Sunday by seven heavily armed suspected Islamic
militants who attempted to free other extremists held there. The Pentagon
statement did not indicate whether the U.S. action was related to the prison
attack.
Somali officials said
all attackers, three government soldiers and two civilians were killed.
Mogadishu's Godka Jilacow prison is an interrogation center for Somalia's
intelligence agency, and many suspected militants are believed to be held in
underground cells there.
The Somali rebel
group al-Shabaab, which is linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the
attack that shattered a period of calm in Mogadishu after two decades of
chaotic violence. The attack started when a suicide car bomber detonated an
explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of the prison, followed by gunmen who
fought their way into the prison.
It was al-Shabaab
gunmen 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
extremists. Godane said the attack was carried out in retaliation for the
West's support for Kenya's Somalia invasion 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 militants on suicide missions -- within Mogadishu,
the seat of government.
Somali military
officials last week launched a military operation to oust al-Shabab from its
last remaining bases in the southern parts of Somalia. However, on
Saturday the town of Bulomarer, which is about 70 miles south of Mogadishu, was
seized from militants after hours of fighting.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
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