US drone strikes have targeted the leader of the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab and his advisers as they were meeting in a hideout in southern Somalia, local officials said Tuesday.
At least three al-Shabaab convoys were destroyed in the US air strikes, officials said. One of the convoys was believed to be carrying al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, but there was no information on whether he was killed or wounded.
Top security officials in Mogadishu said they were trying to get information about Godane’s fate.
Several al-Shabaab members were reported killed or injured in the US strikes, but it was not known if they included any leaders.
The Pentagon said it had conducted an operation Monday against al-Shabaab. It provided no other information, saying it was assessing the mission.
The announcement came nearly a week after the Somali government said it had launched a new offensive against the al-Qaeda-linked group and one day after an al-Shabaab attack in Mogadishu left 15 people dead.
“US drones fired several missiles which hit militant hideouts in the villages of Sablaale, Hawai and Dheytubako near the town of Barawe,” said a top Somali security official who asked not to be named.
Abdulqadir Mohamed Nor Sidii, governor of the southern province of Lower Shabelle, said Godane and other commanders were holding a meeting in the area.
“The credible intelligence reports we have suggest that Ahmed Abdi Godane and his top advisers and commanders were in the area at the time of the attack,” the governor said. “They were in a meeting in their hideouts between the villages of Sablaale and Dheytubako.”
A Sablaale resident who asked not to be named reported “powerful explosions,” “a huge blaze” and “thick smoke from outside our village last night.”
A Hawai resident reported “a precarious situation in our village, where hundreds of al-Shabaab fighters are moving back and forth and a number of people have been arrested by al-Shabaab due to the air bombardments.”
There was no comment from al-Shabaab.
The Somali government, meanwhile, vowed to maintain the offensive against al-Shabaab that it launched with the backing of African Union troops.
“With the coordination of all our partners, including the US and AU troops, these terrorists will be denied space anywhere across the country,” senior military spokesman Abdirisak Khalif Elmi said Tuesday.
The army said Somali and African Union troops have captured several towns and villages in the south and centre of the country over the past 24 hours.
“This operation will continue until we eliminate al-Shabaab,” Elmi said.
The Somali government’s nearly decade-long conflict with al-Shabaab has cost thousands of lives. About five years ago, al-Shabaab controlled most of southern and central Somalia and even parts of Mogadishu. Despite being militarily weakened since then, the group still wields power in the south and centre of the country.
It seeks to establish an Islamic state in Somalia.
GNA
PDC
