US airstrike targets top al-Shabab leader in Somalia
The US military has conducted an airstrike in Somalia, targeting a top leader of the al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabab, the Pentagon says.
"In cooperation with the federal government of Somalia, on Thursday, March 31, the US military conducted an air strike in Somalia against Hassan Ali Dhoore, a senior leader of al-Shabab," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement on Friday.
“Removing Dhoore from the battlefield would be a significant blow to al-Shabab’s operational planning and ability to conduct attacks against the government of the Federal Republic of Somalia, its citizens, US partners in the region, and against Americans abroad,” the statement added.
According to two US sources, Dhoore and two others were killed in the strike which hit an area about 20 miles south of Jilib.
However, the Pentagon said that it was still assessing whether Dhoore was killed in the air raid.
Dhoore played a direct role in al-Shabab's Christmas Day 2014 attack on the Mogadishu airport in which one American was killed, the Pentagon said.
He also had a hand in an attack on a Mogadishu hotel in 2015 that led to the death of 15 people, including a Somali-American, it added.
Somalia has been the scene of deadly fighting between government forces and al-Shabab elements since 2006.
The US has been using drones in Somalia to target alleged positions of militants along with the American Special Forces who have been operating in the country on a rotational basis for the past few years.
The militants have been pushed out of Mogadishu and other major cities by government troops and the African Union Mission to Somalia, which is largely made up of troops from Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone, and Kenya.
The al-Shabab members have, however, continued to carry out attacks in Mogadishu despite being ousted from their bases in the seaside city in 2011.
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