Headlines
Kenya's Westgate terror mastermind killed in drone attack
Nairobi, March 13
A senior Al Shabaab commander was killed in southern Somalia in a drone attack, a Kenyan security official confirmed on Friday.
Adan
Garaar, who allegedly planned Kenya's Westgate mall attack in 2013, was
killed along with two others after their car was targeted on Thursday
near the southern Somali town of Bardhere, Xinhua news agency reported.
"We
had been informed that Adan Garrar, one of the key terrorists involved
in planning of Westgate mall attacks was killed by drone strike on
Thursday evening," said the official who sought anonymity.
The
strike happened barely few hours after the militant group launched an
attack at a regional administration headquarter in central Somalia,
killing 10 people and injuring scores of others.
The US has
carried out a number of similar strikes targeting key Al Shabaab
militants, killing top leader Ali Godane in September and the group's
intelligence leader Tahlil in late 2014.
Westgate Mall, a
shopping centre popular among expatriates and wealthy locals in the
capital Nairobi, was attacked by Islamist militant group Al Shabaab in
September 2013.
At least 67 people were killed in the terror attack, one of the deadliest on Kenyan soil in the past decade.
The
group has also carried out a string of revenge attacks in neighbouring
countries, including the planned attacks in Kampala and Mombasa which
were however foiled in 2014.