against the Al-Qaeda-linked group.
Residents near the site of the strike in
southern Somalia reported at least three
people were in the charred vehicle, which
burst into flames shortly after the sound of
an aircraft was heard overheard.
Somali Interior Minister Abdikarin Hussein
Guled told government radio that his
intelligence services had been tracking
Ibrahim Ali Abdi, also known as Anta-Anta, for some time before the strike took place on Monday.
"The operation in which this man has been
killed was very important for the government.
This man had a major role in the death of many innocent civilians and his death will help in bringing back peace," Guled told Radio Mogadishu.
The strike came weeks after an audacious
attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi claimed by Shebab in which at least 67 people were killed.
The minister did not say who carried out the
drone attack, but an official in Washington
said the US military was responsible.
Officials from Somalia's internationally-
backed government have described the dead
militant as being well-known for making
suicide bomber vests and preparing car bombs
used regularly by the rebels to attack
government-held areas.
"He was Al-Shebab's chief suicide bomb-maker, he was responsible for numerous bomb attacks which claimed the lives of many Somalis," said Ridwan Haji Abdiweli, the prime minister's spokesman, adding that the government welcomed the strike.
"It is a victory for the Somali people that
such dangerous individuals should be taken
out."
There has been no comment from the Islamists.
The missile strike also follows a raid by US
Navy SEALS on the southern port of Barawe in
early October that failed to hit its alleged
target: a senior Shebab militant leader and
Kenyan of Somali origin called Abdulkadir
Mohamed Abdulkadir, also known as Ikrima.
Barawe is a key Shebab training centre
specialising in preparing suicide attack
squads, according to a United Nations
monitoring report earlier this year.
An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity in Washington, said Monday that the latest missile attack was a drone strike
conducted by the US army. The source did not
specify where the drone was launched, but the US army operates the devices from bases in Djibouti and Arba Minch in southern Ethiopia.
The Shebab have been driven out of Somalia's
major towns, including the capital Mogadishu
and the key southern port of Kismayo, by a UN-mandated African Union force that now numbers 17,700 men.
However the group still controls large swathes of southern Somalia and has over the past few months stepped up the scale of its suicide attacks, including storming a UN compound in Mogadishu in June.
The AU force has requested its size be boosted by a quarter to 23,000 troops.
UN Monitoring Group reports earlier this year estimated the Shebab are still some 5,000 strong, and remain the "principal threat to peace and security to Somalia".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier this month warned that "military gains against Al-Shebab that have been achieved in recent years are at serious risk of being reversed.
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