US airstrike kills extremist al-Shabab leader: ‘Thorn removed from the Somali nation’

The U.S. military carried out an airstrike on an al-Shabaab militant network over the weekend in Somalia that killed a leader of the extremist group, U.S. Africa Command and the Somali government said on Monday. 

The strike on Saturday took out Abdullahi Nadir, who had a $3 million bounty on his head and was inline to replace al-Shabaab’s leader. 

“His death is a thorn removed from the Somali nation, and the Somali people will be relieved from his misguidance and horrific acts,” the Somali government said in a statement. 

In this file photo, hundreds of newly trained al-Shabab fighters perform military exercises in the Lafofe area south of Mogadishu, in Somalia. 
(AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)

The al-Qaeda-linked group has thousands of fighters in Somalia and has claimed responsibility for a series of terror attacks in recent months, including one on a Somali government office in the Hiran region that left 20 people dead on Monday. 

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“Al-Shabaab is the largest and most kinetically active al-Qaeda network in the world and has proved both its will and capability to attack U.S. forces and threaten U.S. security interests,” U.S. Africa Command said in a statement. 

A soldier patrols outside the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, Saturday Aug, 20, 2022. 
(AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

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Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who took office in May, recently vowed “total war” against al-Shabab. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.