Somalia – U.S. and Somali officials said on Tuesday that a leader of the Somali militant group al Shabaab was killed by a U.S. air strike in Somalia,

The victim, identified as Abdishakur and also known as Tahliil, was the head of Amniyat, a unit blamed for suicide attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency said in a statement.

The U.S. Defense Department said on Monday it had launched an air strike in Somalia that targeted a senior al Shabaab leader.

Two U.S. officials familiar with the matter confirmed that Abdishakur was the target of the U.S. air strike, and one said Abdishakur was killed in the attack.

The al-Qaeda-aligned Al Shabaab is seeking to topple the Western-backed Mogadishu government and impose its own strict version of Islamic law in the country. A spokesman for the group could not be reached for comment.