A top intelligence official with Somalia's al-Shabab rebels has been killed in a US air strike, Somalia's government says.
"In a joint operation last night by the Somali national security and the United States, al-Shabab intelligence chief Abdishakur, also known as Tahlil, who replaced the recently arrested former chief, was eliminated," Somalia's National Security Agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Two other Shabab members also died in the attack," it said, adding the air strike took place near the town of Saacow, 320 kilometres west of the capital Mogadishu and in the Middle Juba region.
In the US, the Pentagon had announced overnight that its war planes had carried out a strike against a senior Shabab leader, but did not give the name of the person targeted.
US military spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said, however, that he was confident there were no "civilian or bystander casualties".
The United States has no permanently deployed ground force in Somalia but supports the government and sometimes deploys air power or special forces.
