U.S. confirms death of al Shabaab leader Godane in Somalia strike
Fri Sep 5, 2014 6:34pm GMT
(Adds Somalia president comments)
By David Alexander
WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that Ahmed
Abdi Godane, a leader of the al Shabaab Islamist group, was killed in a U.S.
airstrike in Somalia this week, calling it a "major symbolic and operational
loss" for the al Qaeda-affiliated militants.
"We have confirmed that Ahmed Godane, the co-founder of al Shabaab, has been
killed," Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon's press secretary, said in a
statement.
Since taking charge of al Shabaab in 2008, Godane had restyled the group as
a global player in the al Qaeda network, carrying out bombings and suicide
attacks in Somalia and elsewhere in the region, including the Sept. 21,
2013, attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 67
people.
Godane publicly claimed responsibility for the Westgate attack, saying it
was revenge for Kenyan and Western involvement in Somalia and noting its
proximity to the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United
States.
His death leaves a gap in al Shabaab's leadership and was seen as posing the
biggest challenge to the group's unity since it emerged as a fighting force
eight years ago.
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 in
many ways for al Shabaab."
"What is likely to happen is a struggle for power," he said a day before the
Pentagon's confirmed Godane's death. Ayante said fragmentation was also
possible in the absence of a leader with Godane's experience and ruthless
approach to dissent.
U.S. forces struck Godane's encampment in south-central Somalia with
Hellfire missiles and laser-guided munitions on Monday, but the Pentagon did
not confirm his death until Friday, saying it was still assessing the
results of the airstrike.
U.S. President Barack Obama, attending a NATO summit in Wales, mentioned the
confirmation to reporters, saying: "We released today the fact that we have
killed the leader of al Shabaab in Somalia."
He also noted the United States has worked persistently to degrade the
group's operations.
AMNESTY
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud confirmed Godane's killing, saying
U.S. forces conducted the airstrike with the full knowledge and agreement of
the government of Somalia.
In a statement, Mohamud said that while an extreme hardcore may fight over
the leadership of al Shabaab, his government was willing to offer a 45-day
amnesty to al Shabaab members who renounce their links to the Islamist group
and to al Qaeda.
"Those who choose to remain know their fate. Al Shabaab is collapsing," the
Somali president said, adding: "I say to the members of al Shabaab: Godane
is dead and now is the chance for members of al Shabaab to embrace peace."
Somalia's government, with support from African peacekeepers and Western
intelligence, 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.
In the Pentagon's statement, Kirby said that "removing Godane from the
battlefield is a major symbolic and operational loss to al Shabaab."
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 Obama administration would continue to use financial, diplomatic,
intelligence and military tools to address the threat posed by al Shabaab,
Earnest said.
The U.S. State Department declared al Shabaab a foreign terrorist
organization in 2008.
The Pentagon did not say from where it launched the attack on Godane, but
United States and France have stationed some military operations at a base
in Djibouti.
Foreign military personnel from the base were targeted by two al Shabaab
suicide bombers earlier this year. The attack killed a Turkish national and
wounded several Western military personnel. No U.S. troops were hurt.
(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington, Abdi Sheikh in
Mogadishu, Edmund Blair and Drazen Jorgic in Nairobi; editing by Doina
Chiacu, G Crosse, Susan Heavey and James Macharia)