MOGADISHU, Somalia
The United States military said it killed a leader of the Islamist militant al-Shabaab group with an air strike in Somalia over the weekend, while the insurgents claimed responsibility for a new attack.
Abdullahi Nadir, al-Shabaab's chief prosecutor |
Somalia's
government said the leader was one of the co-founders of the al-Qaeda-linked
movement that has killed tens of thousands of people in bombings since 2006.
It named him as Abdullahi
Nadir, al-Shabaab's
chief prosecutor, who it said had been in line to replace the group's ailing
leader, Ahmed Diriye. There was no immediate comment on the strike from
al-Shabaab.
Nadir's "death is a thorn
removed from the Somali nation," Somalia's information ministry said.
"The government is
grateful to the Somali people and international friends whose cooperation
facilitated the killing of this leader who was an enemy of the Somali
nation."
The U.S. Africa Command said
it carried out the air strike near Jilib, about 370 km (230 miles) southwest in
the capital Mogadishu on Saturday.
Somali security forces - who
are backed by U.S. troops and drones and an African Union peacekeeping mission
- have touted gains made in recent weeks against al-Shabaab.
But the militants - who are
fighting to overthrow the Western-backed government and implement their
interpretation of Islamic law - have continued to conduct deadly raids,
including two on Friday that killed at least 16 people.
On Monday, two car bombs
exploded in the central city of Beledweyne, killing at least 20 people and
injuring many others, the state news agency reported.
A third car bomb was blown up
by security forces without causing any further casualties, three residents
said.
Al-Shabaab claimed
responsibility for the attack which its military operations spokesman said
killed dozens of people, including officials and soldiers.
Somalia's President Hassan
Sheikh Mohamud, elected by lawmakers in May, has promised to take the fight to
the insurgents after three years in which his predecessor, consumed by
political infighting, took little action against al-Shabaab.
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