The Islamist militants Al Shabaab were responsible for the Nairobi Mall Massacre killing at least 70 and the death toll is still rising. Fox News is reporting that the US Navy Seals have killed the leader of Al Shabaab linked to the Kenyan Mall massacre. The story is still developing.
Earlier today, U.S. Special Forces raided an Al Shabaab stronghold in Somalia.
The Telegraph reported:
The assault took place shortly before dawn on the coastal town of Barawe, 110 miles south of Somalia‘s capital, Mogadishu.
Ahmed Abdi Godane, the leader of al-Shabaab, is known to have stayed in Barawe in the past. The fishing town is in the heart of an area controlled by the al-Qaeda affiliate.
Al-Shabaab claimed that British and Turkish special forces carried out the raid and that one SAS officer was killed. However, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said that “no UK forces at all” were involved. Turkey’s government made a similar denial. France, which has carried out raids in Somalia in the past, also said that none of its soldiers was deployed.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman George Little said: “I decline comment.”
In 2009, the US Navy Seals attacked Barawe and killed six al-Shabaab fighters, including one senior commander
The soldiers landed on a beach beside the town’s whitewashed buildings. “Gunfire broke out for about 10-15 minutes,” a resident told the Agence France Presse news agency.
Some reports suggested that helicopters were used; others said the assault was entirely seaborne. An al-Shabaab spokesman admitted that one fighter was “martyred”, but another report suggested that at least seven were killed.
The assault was on a two-storey house where foreign fighters stayed, residents said.
