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Pentagon confirms airstrike kills major planner of Westgate Mall attack

Xinhua, March 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

A militant leader who allegedly helped mastermind the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Kenya was killed last week in a U.S. airstrike, the Pentagon confirmed in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement said that Adan Garar, believed by the U.S. military as a key operative responsible for coordinating Somalia-based militant group Al-Shabaab's external operations, was kill on March 12 in a drone strike.

"The attack was a success and resulted in the death of Garar," said the statement, describing the deadly attack as "another significant blow to the Al-Shabaab terrorist organization in Somalia."

The Pentagon said earlier last week that it had conducted a drone attack against a leader of Al-Shabaab.

Garar was believed to be one of the masterminds behind the massacre at the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi in September 2013, when some 67 people were killed by Al-Shabaab militants. Endi