Senior Al-Shabaab commander killed in Janaale, southern Somalia- AMISOM

A senior Al-Shabaab commander in Janaale, Lower Shabellle region, Abdirashir Buqdube was killed Friday night in a joint Amisom and Somali Army offensive, Amisom has said.

In a statement, Amisom Sector One commander Brigadier General Sam Okiding said Buqdube, alongside 22 other militants were killed in a combined ground and airstrike operation along the Buufow road in Janale.

Sector one covers the capital Mogadishu and is under the command of Uganda and Burundi troops under Amisom.

Okiding said the operation had also killed a dozen other Al-Shabaab militants in the past two days after they attempted to ambush and disrupt Amisom and Somali National Army, SNA development activities.

The killing of Buqdube comes barely 24 hours after the US Pentagon and Somali government said they had killed head of Al-Shabaab intelligence, Hassan Ali Dhore in Lower Shabelle.

“The allied forces (AMISOM and SNA) will continue to clean up Al-Shabaab held areas in Janaale to liberate residents of Al-Shabaab tyranny. Al-Shabaab cannot hide and we shall continue to work hard to deny them safe haven until the people have been liberated from Al-Shabaab terror,” said Okiding.

The joint operations and US drone strikes have wiped out key Al-Shabaab figures in southern Somalia in the recent past. A drone strike killed 150 militants in central Somalia last month.