A United States airstrike in Somalia killed a reported al-Shabaab militant leader on Saturday with the help of the Somali government, as revealed by the US Africa Command.
The American government said that the initial assessment of the airstrike was that it successfully killed an al-Shabaab militant leader while ensuring there were no civilian casualties.
Al-Shabaab Militant Leader
While the statement did not identify the militant leader, the Somali Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism posted a tweet saying that an operation on Saturday in coordination with international partners killed Abdullahi Nadir.
In a similar incident in late September this year, a US airstrike killed 27 members of al-Shabaab in Somalia. The efforts were part of increased support for the Somali government in the wake of US President Joe Biden's decision to approve the redeployment of American troops to the east African nation.
The Africa Command said that al-Shabaab is the largest and most kinetically active al-Qaeda network in the world. It is also known to have proven both its will and capability to attack United States forces and threaten US security interests, as per CNN.
Former US President Donald Trump, in December 2020, ordered the withdrawal of American troops from Somalia in the waning days of his administration. However, a senior Biden administration official said that the decision was "abrupt and sudden," arguing that al-Shabaab has only grown stronger since then.
President Biden, in May earlier this year, approved a request from the Pentagon to redeploy less than 500 troops to Somalia in consultation with the latter's government. The US conducted several strikes against al-Shabaab since the approval of the request but has mostly been in defense until the most recent airstrikes.
According to Reuters, the Somali government identified the killed al-Shabaab militant leader as one of the co-founders of the terrorist group. Nadir was believed to be the group's chief prosecutor and was reportedly in line to replace the ailing leader, Ahmred Diriye.
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Battle for Control of Somalia
Somalia's information ministry said that Nadir's death was considered a thorn removed from the Somali nation. Officials added that the government was grateful to the Somali people and international allies whose cooperation, they said, facilitated the killing of the terrorist leader, who was an enemy of the Somali nation.
The US Africa Command conducted the airstrike near Jilib, roughly 370 kilometers southwest of the capital Mogadishu on Saturday. Furthermore, Somali security forces, who were supported by American forces and drones alongside an African Union peacekeeping mission, touted gains made in recent weeks against the terrorist group.
However, al-Shabaab, who is fighting to overthrow the Western-backed Somali government and implement their interpretation of Islamic law, has continued to conduct frequent, deadly raids. These include two attacks on Friday that resulted in the death of at least 16 people.
Since 2007, al-Shabaab has been linked to the deaths of tens of thousands of people in bombings. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was elected by lawmakers earlier in May, promised to take the battle to the rebels after three years following little efforts from his predecessor, Aljazeera reported.
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