(David Smith, Abdalle Ahmed and Tom McCarthy)
The Pentagon has confirmed that Ahmed Abdi Godane, the leader of the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, was killed in a US air strike earlier this week.
The United States previously said that the strike inside Somalia had targeted Godane, but did not know whether he had been killed.
“We have confirmed that Ahmed Godane, the co-founder of al-Shabaab, has been killed,” said rear admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, describing it as a “major symbolic and operational loss” for the militant group, which aligned itself with al-Qaida.
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.
On Wednesday US officials had said they were still investigating to see whether the strike on an al-Shabaab encampment had killed Godane, 37, who reportedly trained with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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.
The commander of the AU in Somalia has said the death of Godane would be a “proud and happy moment for all Africa”.
Godane, who has a passion for poetry, seized world attention a year ago with the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi, which left at least 67 dead. He warned Kenya that it would suffer further atrocities unless it withdrew its troops from the AU force in Somalia.
“You cannot withstand a war of attrition inside your own country,” he said in an audio message posted on a website linked to al-Shabaab. “So withdraw all your forces, or be prepared for an abundance of blood that will be spilt in your country.”
Washington has carried out a series of drone missile strikes in the past, including attacks reportedly targeting Godane, but rarely confirms this officially.
Godane took over the leadership of al-Shabaab in 2008 after then chief Adan Hashi Ayro was killed by a US missile strike.
Also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, Godane was al-Shabaab’s spiritual leader under whose direction the Somali militants forged an alliance with al-Qaida. In 2012 the US offered a reward of up to $7m (£4.2m) for information leading to his arrest.
Mohamed Hassan Hamud, Somalia’s defence minister, said: “The Somalia federal government welcomes the death of the leader of the terrorist group al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane.”
He added: The death of Godane is big blow to al-Shabaab and also to the al-Qaida network which al-Shabaab is a member of.”
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Source: The Guardian, Sept. 06, 2014.
