Top Al-Shabaab leader hit removes Somalia ‘thorn’

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) — The Somali government announced on Monday a top Al-Shabaab militant, who had a $3-million United States bounty on his head, had been killed in a joint air strike in southern Somalia.

The drone strike on 1 October, launched by the Somali army and international security partners, killed Abdullahi Yare near the coastal town of Haramka, the ministry of information said in a statement dated Sunday but posted online on Monday.

"This leader… was the head preacher of the group and one of the most notorious members of the Shabab group," it said.

"He was former head of the Shura council and the group's director for finances," the ministry said, referring to a powerful consultation body within Al-Shabaab.

A co-founder of the al-Qaeda-linked group, Yare was believed to be next in line to take over the leadership of the movement from its ailing chief Ahmed Diriye, according to the ministry.

"His elimination is like a thorn removed from Somalia as a nation," the ministry said.

Yare was one of seven leaders named by the US on its most-wanted list in 2012. Washington offered three million dollars for his capture.

The announcement of the strike comes weeks after Somalia's recently elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud vowed to stage all-out war on the jihadists, following a string of deadly attacks. They include a 30-hour hotel siege in the capital, Mogadishu, that killed 21 people.

Mohamud last month urged citizens to stay away from areas controlled by Al-Shabaab as he vowed to ratchet up offensives against the militants.

Al-Shabaab, which espouses a strict version of sharia or Islamic law, has waged a bloody insurrection against the Mogadishu government for 15 years and remains a potent force despite an African Union operation against the group.