Somali militant leader said to be targeted in US airstrike

Among the killed was Mohamed Kuno, who was said to be the mastermind of the April attack on Kenya’s Garissa University that killed 148 people, as indicated by Njoka.

Kenyan Interior ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka has tweeted that he was mistaken when saying a “mastermind” of that attack was among four al-Shabab commanders killed.

‘It was a United States drone.

Officials in neighboring Kenya, however, claim the victims were al-Shabab militants, including some of their commanders. “Kenyan forces usually provide ground support, information and intelligence on such strikes”, he told AFP.

Gamadhere is one of the most sought-after terrorists in the US and KDF watch list after last September’s killing of Ahmed Abde Godane, the leader of the al Shabaab militant group believed to have been behind the Westgate Shopping Mall massacre that left more than 67 people dead in 2013.

Heightened offensive by the U.S. and KDF against al Shabaab comes just a week before American President Barack Obama visits Kenya for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit to be stage in Nairobi.

They have also conducted a string of attacks and massacres across northeastern Kenya, from Mandera in the far north to the Lamu region on the coast.

“We heard two big explosions and the information we are getting indicates that vehicles were targeted close to a Shabaab military base”, said Abdiwahab Ali, an elder at a village close to the scene.

Bardheere which has been a major stronghold for al-Shabaab in the past five years seems the militants will lose its controls after the Ethiopian troops with Somali pro-government militias launched an operation to retake it last week.

Residents in the Tarako areas said AMISOM infantry have restored Tarako setting which actually hyperlinks Bardhere to effectively Elwaq place for the Kenyan boundary and consequently is claimed to be necessary give send for “al-Shabaab”.

“We are moving on with our normal lives, terrorists will not hold us back”, said the IG.