Al-Shabaab leader killed in US air strike, Pentagon confirms

Ahmed Godane's death could cause power struggle within terrorist group

Pentagon Press Pecretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby, confirmed al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Godane was killed in a US air strike (Getty Images)

A leader of the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab has been killed in an American air strike, military chiefs have confirmed.

The death of Ahmed Godane was announced on Friday by Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby, who declared it a “major symbolic and operational loss”.

The lethal strike in Somalia took place on Monday, but military analysts were still assessing its outcome during the week.

Godane was a co-founder of the terrorist group, which has carried out bombings and suicide attacks in the east African country and elsewhere.

He publicly claimed responsibility for last September’s attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, saying it was revenge for Kenyan and Western involvement in Somalia.

Ahmed Godane was co-founder of al-Shabaab (Reuters)

Abdi Ayante, director of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, said Godane's death would be “a game changer” for al-Shabaab and would likely bring about a struggle for power.

He said fragmentation was also possible in the absence of a leader with Godane’s experience and ruthless attitude towards dissenters.

A separate statement from White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the operation that killed Godane was the result of "years of painstaking work by our intelligence, military and law enforcement professionals”.

The US State Department declared al-Shabaab a foreign terrorist organisation in 2008.

Somalia's government has battled to curb al-Shabaab's influence and drive the group from areas it has continued to control since it was expelled from Mogadishu in 2011.

Additional reporting by Reuters