Leader of Somalian terrorist group al-Shabaab killed in U.S airstrike in Somalia

According to an official press release by the Somali prime minister on Friday, Ahmed Godane, head of the Islamist militant group ‘al Shabaab’, was killed in a U.S. airstrike on Monday, although the group that is waging an insurgency against the government has yet to comment on the announcement.

"We tell the Somalis that Godane is dead," Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed said on his Facebook page, the first government confirmation of his death. (Reuters)

Meanwhile, U.S. officials had earlier said on Wednesday that they were still checking to see whether Monday's U.S. missile strike on an al Shabaab encampment had killed Godane, who was appointed leader in 2008 after his predecessor was killed in a U.S. attack.