Maalim Ayman was wanted over attack on airbase in Kenya in 2020 in which three Americans died
Somali troops and US forces have killed a senior commander of the al-Shabaab militant group who had a $10m bounty on his head over an attack that left three Americans dead.
“Maalim Ayman, a senior leader of al-Shabaab, was confirmed to have been killed in a joint operation by the Somali national army with assistance from US forces on December 17th,” Kenya’s information minister, Daud Aweis, said on X on Thursday.
He said Ayman was responsible for “planning multiple lethal terrorist attacks in Somalia and nearby countries”.
The al-Qaida-linked Islamists have led a 16-year insurgency against the fragile central government and control swathes of rural Somalia.
