Kenyan troops kill Al-Shabaab deputy commander in Somalia: military

Kenyan soldiers serving under the Africa Union mandate in Somalia have killed a senior Al-Shabaab commander and ten other middle-level commanders in a major strike carried out in the Horn of Africa nation last week.

Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) spokesman Colonel David Obonyo said Thursday that Mahad Mohammed Karatey, alias Mahat Karatey, the Al-Shabaab deputy commander and overall head of the Alamnyat (Al-Shabaab intelligence wing), was killed alongside ten other commanders on Nadaris camp between Buale and Sukow on Feb. 8.

"Karatey had gone to the camp to preside over the passing out of an estimated 80 Alamnyat recruits who had completed their training and were due for deployment to carry out more terrorist attacks," Obonyo said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

The military spokesman also confirmed that 42 recruits were also killed while many others sustained injuries.

Obonyo said Alamnyat is the Al-Shabaab intelligence wing that composes of suicide bombers, assassins, explosive experts and information gatherers, and the killing of the overall commanders is a major blow to the Al-Qaida allied militant group.

"It's believed that Karatey played a major role in the recent attack on KDF troops in El-Adde by the deployment of his suicide bombers. His killing now adds to that of the killing of Abdi Dek, the operational commander of the Abu Zubeir Brigade that carried out the attack in El-Adde," Obonyo said.

He said the Kenyan forces will intensify attack on the terrorist group, which killed several of Kenyan soldiers during the Jan.15 attack in southern Somalia. Enditem