Somalia’s government says it has killed Abdullahi Nadir, one of the co-founders of the armed group al-Shabab, in an operation with international partners.
The country’s information ministry said in a statement that Nadir was al-Shabab’s chief prosecutor and was in line to replace the group’s leader, Ahmed Diriye, who is sick.
In recent weeks, Somali security forces have touted gains made against the al-Qaeda-linked group while fighting alongside local self-defence groups.
But al-Shabab has continued to conduct deadly raids, including two last Friday that killed at least 16 people and another on Monday that police said killed at least five.
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected by lawmakers in May, has promised to take the fight to the rebels after three years in which his predecessor, consumed by political infighting, took little action against al-Shabab.
Somalia’s military is supported by US troops, drones and an African Union peacekeeping mission. It was not immediately clear which international partners participated in the operation that killed Nadir.
