A senior member of the militant group al-Shabaab has been killed in an air strike carried out by US war planes in southern Somalia, a US defense official has said.
Yusuf Dheeq, al-Shabaab’s head of external operations, was killed in a drone air strike last Saturday in the town on Dinsoor while travelling on a convoy, a U.S defense official said on a condition of anonymity.
The US department of defense has yet to declare information about the latest air strike, a series of setbacks for the militia.
During the attack, a Somali government official told the media that at least 45 militants were killed in the attack, including foreigners.
The extremist group which is linked to al-Qaeda is yet to talk about the latest air strike.
Al-Shabaab has dealt a series of sharp blows in the past few years, including the U.S. air raid that killed Ahmed Abdi Godane last September. A significant number of senior al-Shabaab leaders have also been killed in U.S. drone attacks in the country.
But Yusuf Dheeq appeared to be much less widely known and was not part of the U.S. State Department’s list of most wanted terrorists, as Godane had been.
Covert U.S drone strikes have killed a series of senior al-Shabaab officials in Somalia’s Southern part over the past few years.
Horseed Media
US airstrike ‘kills al-Shabaab head of External Operations’ in Somalia
Published: February 3, 2015