Top al-Shabaab operative killed, says Somalia army chief

Brigadier General Odowa Yusuf Raghe, the commander of the Somali National Army (SNA), stated on Sunday that a senior al-Shabaab operative was killed in a military operation.

While speaking to the SNA broadcaster known as Voice of the Army, Gen Raghe named the killed jihadist as Mohamed Abdi Sabriye aka Tosow, adding that he was a top operative based in Middle Shabelle region, north of Mogadishu.

“The operation was conducted in a location called Dar-ul-Salaam in Adan Yabal district (about 120 km northeast of Mogadishu),” said the general, indicating that Sabriye was an apex organiser of the jihadist militants in the region. 

The army says Sabriye was killed some time this month. He said the operation came after SNA intelligence indicated that militants were planting landmines along a key route. 

The somali army, with support of peacekeepers under the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), has been waging intense operations in Hirshabelle and Galmudug States in Central Somalia in a bid to weaken the jihadists ahead of elections in the coming 3 months.