VOA News – Sources in Somalia say a suspected U.S. drone strike has killed a key operative of the militant group al-Shabab.
Witnesses tell VOA that Ibrahim Ali Abdi, the mastermind of al-Shabab’s suicide missions, was killed Monday when a drone fired three missiles at the car he was traveling in.
The airstrike happened on a road east of Jilib, a town in southern Somalia. Sources affiliated with al-Shabab tell VOA that Abdi was killed in the attack, along with one other al-Shabab member.
A Somali intelligence source says Abdi, who was also known as Anta Anta, planned bombings in Somaliland in 2008 that struck the presidential palace, the Ethiopian consulate and the U.N. Development Program office.
There was no immediate comment about the attack from U.S. officials.
The U.S. and its allies are trying to maintain pressure on al-Shabab after the group’s fighters attacked a Nairobi shopping mall last month, killing more than 60 civilians.
