The Somali prime minister said on
Friday that Ahmed Godane, head of the Islamist militant group al
Shabaab, was killed in a U.S. strike on Monday, although the group that
is waging an insurgency against the government has yet to comment.
U.S.
officials had said on Wednesday that they were still checking to see
whether Monday's U.S. missile strike on an al Shabaab encampment had
killed Godane, who was appointed leader in 2008 after his predecessor
was killed in a U.S. attack.
"We tell the Somalis that Godane is dead," Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed said on his Facebook page, the first government confirmation of his death. (Reuters)
