A US drone attack killed three members of Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamist rebel group on Thursday in southern Somalia while they were driving in a car.
Adan Garar who was one of the suspects with links to the gunmen who attacked Nairobi’s Westgate Mall killing more than 70 people in 2013 is believed to have been among the dead in the strike. The officials said the other victims were not immediately identified.
The attack took place on Thursday evening in the village of Abaq-Xaluul, outside the town of Bardhere. Witnesses said the vehicle was destroyed in the drone strike.
Garaar’s group had previously planned failed attacks in Kampala and Mombasa in 2014.
Earlier, Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack that targeted a key Somali political leader that left at least eight people dead in Baidoa.
Somali government forces have meanwhile captured four suspected Islamist militants and then showed to the media in the capital, Mogadishu.
“The suspects opened fire on Somali security forces on Friday night while officers were conducting a security operation,” a spokesman for the state security agency said on Saturday.
The number of the attacks has increased in the past week where Al-Shabaab militants are fighting for an Islamic state inside Somalia. Howver they have suffered some setbacks in recent years as government troops, backed by African Union forces, regained control of the capital and other territories that had previously been controlled by al-Shabab.
Alshabaab militants endanger the lives of many Somalians. Recently, they launched several high-profile attacks.
