US drone strike might have killed the leader of Al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane in Somalia. The strike which was carried out in Sablale district, 168 kilometres south of Mogadishu, where al-Shabab trains its militants. Sources within Somalia indicate that Godane was definitely killed in the strike.
Godane rose to prominence when he launched attacks inside Kenya because of Kenya’s involvement in the Somalia conflict. He warned that Kenya will lose the war of attrition in its own soil. His major event was the much talked about Westgate attack which claimed several lives.
Born in the now semi-autonomous Somaliland, Godane imposed a Talibal style rule in most parts of Somalia. He trained as an accountant working briefly for an airline before proceeding to Afghanistan for training in fighting. If he was killed by the strike as alleged, Ahmed Godane must have gone the same way his predecessor, Adan Hashi Ayro, went when he was killed by a US air strike in 2008.
