A leader of the Somali Islamist extremist group al-Shabaab, who had a $3 million bounty on his head, has surrendered to Somali authorities, government officials said Saturday.
Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi "surrendered to government forces in El Wak, Gedo region. He is expected to be flown to Mogadishu tomorrow," an unnamed government official told Reuters.
In 2012, the U.S. government placed a bounty on Hersi's head along with seven other al-Shabaab leaders, totaling $33 million, for information leading to their capture. It was not immediately clear if the reward will be given for Hersi.
State radio station Radio Muqdisho also reported that Hersi surrendered. Its website described the leader as "the general secretary of al-Shabaab's finance (department)," according to Reuters.
The reasons for Hersi's surrender, if true, were not immediately clear. He could have done so because of a disagreement between him and supporters of the group's former head leader, Abdi Godane, who was killed by a U.S. air strike in September, an unnamed Somali official told the Associated Press.
Al-Shabaab members, however, say Hersi left the group two years ago and that his alleged surrender has no affect on them.
"The government exaggerates the story just to cover the recent attack at the AU base," an unnamed al-Shabaab member told Reuters in reference to the group's attack on an African Union base in the capital Mogadishu earlier this week.
"(Hersi) cannot have impact on al-Shabaab because he is not a member."
The al-Qaeda-linked group launched the AU attack on Christmas, killing nine people including three AU soldiers, the AP reported. The group said the attack was revenge for Godane's death.
Like many militant groups, al-Shabaab has waged a deadly campaign to topple Somali's fragile government and enforce strict Islamic rule. African Union troops were able to break the group's hold on Mogadishu in 2011, but the extremists continue to terrorize civilians in other parts of Somalia and neighboring Kenya.
