US takes out al Shabaab co-founder

The United States on Friday said it can confirm that a co-founder of al-Shabaab, the largest al Qaeda affiliate in Africa, was killed in an airstrike over the past weekend.

The United States on Friday said it can confirm that a co-founder of al-Shabaab, the largest al Qaeda affiliate in Africa, was killed in an airstrike over the past weekend.

Ahmed Godane, the al Shabaab leader, was the target of an airstrike last Sunday, in south-central Somalia. But the US wasn’t sure then if it had succeeded.

“We have confirmed that Ahmed Godane, the co-founder of al-Shabaab, has been killed,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby in a statement.

“Removing Godane from the battlefield is a major symbolic and operational loss to al-Shabaab,” he added.

Al Shabaab had claimed responsibility for the Westgate Mall shooting in Nairobi in 2013 in which dozens of people were killed and injured.