Al Shabab intelligence chief reportedly target of US airstrike in Somalia

Baku.31 December. REPORT.AZ/ The United States carried out an airstrike in Somalia against the militant group Al Shabab, the Pentagon confirmed Monday.

It appears that the Al Qaeda-affiliated group’s intelligence chief, Abdishakur Tahlili, was the target of the attack. If confirmed, his death would be the latest in a series of setbacks the US military has dealt the terrorist organization.

For their part, defense officials say that they have seen these reports, but are not in a position to confirm the results of the airstrike – only that the target of the attack was a senior Al Shabab leader in Somalia.

“We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information, when appropriate, as details become available,” Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.

Report informs citing Reuters, given the stepped-up US military offensive against Al Shabab, how big a threat does the group pose?

Al Shabab is perhaps best known in the US as the group responsible for carrying out the widely publicized attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, which resulted in the death of more than 60 people in September 2013.

On the heels of that attack, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper said last January, “Security has increased and ongoing counterterrorism and policing partnership have strengthened” between the US and Africa.

“Nevertheless,” he added in his 2014 Worldwide Threat Assessment, “East African governments will have difficulty protecting the wide range of potential targets.”