US military claims death of al-Shabaab leader in Somali air attack

• Somalia’s information ministry says that Nadir’s death was “a thorn taken out of the Somali nation”.
• The militants are trying to get rid of the government backed by the West and replace it with their own version of Islamic law.
• Al-Shabaab didn’t say anything right away about the attack.

The U.S. 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 took credit for a new attack.

The government of Somalia said that the leader was one of the people who started the group with ties to al-Qaeda that has bombed and killed tens of thousands of people since 2006.

It said his name was Abdullahi Nadir and that he was al-chief Shabaab’s prosecutor. It also said that he was in line to replace Ahmed Diriye, the group’s sick leader. Al-Shabaab didn’t say anything right away about the attack.

Somalia’s information ministry said that Nadir’s death was “a thorn taken out of the Somali nation.”

“The government is thankful to the Somali people and international friends who helped kill this leader who was bad for the Somali people.”

The U.S. Africa Command said that the air strike happened Saturday near Jilib, which is about 370 km (230 miles) southwest of Mogadishu, the capital.

Somali security forces, who are working against al Shabaab with the help of U.S. troops, drones, and an African Union peacekeeping mission, have been bragging about the progress they have made in recent weeks.

But the militants, who are trying to get rid of the government backed by the West and replace it with their own version of Islamic law, have kept up their deadly raids. Two of them killed at least 16 people on Friday.

The state news agency said that on Monday, two car bombs went off in the central city of Beledweyne, killing at least 20 people and hurting many more.

Three people said that security forces blew up a third car bomb without killing any more people.

Al Shabaab said it was behind the attack, which a spokesman for its military operations said killed dozens of people, including soldiers and government officials.

Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was elected by lawmakers in May. He has promised to fight al-Shabaab after his predecessor, who was busy with political fights, didn’t do much to stop them for three years.

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