U.S. drone strike in Somalia targets al-Shabab leader

African Union troops oust militants from a town in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia while fighting continues in Mogadishu.

Aug. 31, 2014 Civilians who had left Bulo Marer when it was held by al-Shabab militants returned Sunday after African Union and Somali government soldiers recaptured the town, in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. Somali government and African Union troops have been engaging al-Shabab militants as part of a military offensive dubbed “Indian Ocean,” which aims to oust al-Shabab from its last major hideouts in the southern parts of the Horn of Africa nation. Tobin Jones/AMISOM via Associated Press

By Craig Whitlock 

The U.S. military on Tuesday was trying to assess whether it had killed the leader of the militant group al-Shabab in a drone strike in Somalia, U.S. officials said, amid reports from Somali officials that the operation had been successful.
U.S. officials said the counterterrorism operation on Monday had targeted Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, widely known as Godane, a Kenyan native who had taken control of al-Shabab in recent years and aligned the group with al-Qaeda. Godane is also the alleged mastermind of al-Shabab’s attack on an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi in September 2013.



The Somalian embassy in Washington asserted on its Twitter account Tuesday morning that Godane had been killed, along with “seven senior members” of al-Shabab.
U.S. officials said they could not confirm the report, adding that the Pentagon was still trying to determine Godane’s fate and would be cautious before making any definitive conclusions. Several al-Qaeda leaders have been reported killed in drone strikes in the past in Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere, only to resurface later on, very much alive.
In a rare acknowledgment of its clandestine military activities in Somalia, the Pentagon said in a statement late Monday that it had conducted a counterterrorism operation there but gave no details. “We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information as and when appropriate,” said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary.
Journalists in Somalia reported that U.S. drones fired missiles near the port city of Barawe, an al-Shabab stronghold.
No U.S. ground forces were involved in the operation, an aspect that was making it more difficult to verify the results, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the mission.
A spokesman for al-Shabab told the Associated Press that Godane was riding in one of two vehicles that were targeted in the drone strike but would not say whether the leader survived the attack.
Nearly one year ago, on Oct. 5, Navy SEALs raided a seaside house in Barawe in an attempt to capture Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, a Kenyan native and senior al-Shabab commander. That raid sparked a gunfight but was unsuccessful; U.S. officials said the SEALs withdrew because the risk of harming bystanders had become too great.
The Obama administration has since posted a $3 million reward for information leading to Abdulkadir’s arrest or capture. A State Department bounty notice describes him as about 35 years old, with a thick mustache and three missing fingers on his left hand.
The U.S. military frequently conducts drone surveillance flights over Somalia, but airstrikes and ground raids are relatively uncommon. The Pentagon has a large drone base at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, which borders Somalia on the Horn of Africa. The U.S. military also flies surveillance drones over Somalia from a base in Ethi­o­pia.
The Pentagon quietly deployed a small team of advisers to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, last October to coordinate operations with African troops fighting to wrest control of the country from al-Shabab.

The deployment marked the first time regular U.S. troops have been stationed in the war-ravaged country since 1993, when two helicopters were shot down and 18 Americans were killed in the “Black Hawk Down” disaster. U.S. commandos have intermittently conducted raids and operations in the country as well, but the military has kept their activities cloaked in secrecy.
Al-Shabab, which means “the Youth” in Arabic, once effectively controlled most of Somalia but has lost ground in recent years as other African countries have sent troops to intervene in the chronically unstable country. The United States has helped to train and finance Africa Union troops that now hold sway in Mogadishu and other parts of the country.