Pentagon Confirms Al-Shabab Leader Killed in U.S. Airstrike

September 5, 2014 12:12 PM EDT

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Friday that the Pentagon has confirmed al-Shabab leader Ahmed Godane was killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier this week. Al-Shabaab is an African al-Qaeda offshoot primarily operating in Somalia which claimed responsibility for a deadly attack at a Nairobi, Kenya mall last September.

“Godane’s removal is a major symbolic and operational loss to the largest al-Qaeda affiliate in Africa and reflects years of painstaking work by our intelligence, military and law enforcement professionals,” said Earnest in a statement. “Even as this is an important step forward in the fight against al-Shabab, the United States will continue to use the tools at our disposal – financial, diplomatic, intelligence and military –to address the threat that al-Shabab and other terrorist groups pose to the United States and the American people.”

The American airstrikes targeting al-Shabab in Somalia were previously reported, but it was unclear until now if Godane was killed as a result of them.

See the full list of attacks Godane has claimed to be responsible for in Earnest’s recounting below:

In September 2013, Godane publicly claimed al-Shabab was responsible for the Westgate Mall attack, which killed and injured dozens in Nairobi, Kenya, calling the attack “revenge” for Kenyan and Western involvement in Somalia and highlighting its proximity to the anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Under his leadership, the group has claimed responsibility for many bombings—including various types of suicide attacks—in Mogadishu and in central and northern Somalia, typically targeting officials and perceived allies of the Somali Government as well as the former Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia. Godane has also continued to oversee plots targeting Westerners, including U.S. persons, in East Africa.

In recent months, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Djibouti that killed a Turkish national and wounded several Western soldiers as well a car bomb at the Mogadishu airport that targeted and killed members of a United Nations convoy. Al-Shabab was responsible for the twin suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, on July 11, 2010, which killed more than 70 people, including one American.

The group has also been responsible for the assassination of Somali peace activists, international aid workers, numerous civil society figures, and journalists. In February 2012, al-Shabab and al-Qaeda announced their formal alliance through a statement in which Godane swore allegiance to al-Qaeda and promised to follow “the road of jihad and martyrdom in the footsteps that our martyr Osama bin Laden has drawn for us.

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