(Chuck Hagel/Creative Commons)

According to a Washington Post report, Godane was a “co-founder of a network blamed for its brutal tactics in Somalia and for the attack on an upscale Kenyan shopping mall last year.” He was given a position of leadership after his predecessor was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2008. The United States had previously offered as much as $7 million for Godane’s capture.

“Removing Godane from the battlefield is a major symbolic and operational loss to al-Shabab,” stated Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.

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