A US drone strike in southern Somalia has killed the al Shabaab militant leader thought to have masterminded the deadly attack on a shopping mall in
A US drone strike in southern Somalia has killed the al Shabaab militant leader thought to have masterminded the deadly attack on a shopping mall in Kenya in 2013.
The Pentagon says a vehicle carrying Adnan Garaar, a top official with the Islamist group, was hit near the town of Dinsoor, some 240 kilometres west of the capital Mogadishu, last Thursday.
It says Garaar “posed a major threat to the region and the international community and was connected to the West Gate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya. His death has dealt another significant blow to the al Shabaab terrorist organization in Somalia.”
Militants belonging to al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab attacked Nairobi’s upmarket Westgate shopping mall on September 21, 2013, killing at least 67 people in an attack that evolved into a four-day siege.
Al Shabaab is seeking to punish Kenya for sending troops into Somalia alongside other African peacekeepers. The Islamists claimed responsibility for a raid on a Kenyan town near the Somali border on Tuesday that left at least four people dead.