Al-Shabaab’s intelligence chief was killed in an airstrike in Somalia, the Kenyan military said in a statement Thursday, calling it “a major blow” to the terror group.
Mahad Mohammed Karatey, also known as Mahat Karatey, was killed along with 10 midlevel Al-Shabaab commanders and 42 recruits.
The operation, which targeted a camp run by the terror group in southern Somalia, was conducted by Kenyan Defense Forces, part of the African Union peacekeeping mission in the country.
Karatey was a high-level Al-Shabaab commander and head of the group’s intelligence wing, known as the Amniyat, which is responsible for intelligence gathering, uses explosives experts and plans suicide bombings.
Karatey had gone to the Nadaris camp to preside over the graduation of an estimated 80 recruits, who were ready to be deployed to conduct terror attacks, said Kenya Defense Forces Spokesman Colonel David Obonyo.
But Al-Shabaab radio Andulus quoted a spokesman for the terror group who denied that Karatey was killed.
Authorities believe Karatey was directly involved in the attack on Garissa University in Kenya last year and a suicide bombing attack in January on an African Union base in El Adde, Somalia.
Last year, the U.S. State Department designated Karatey as a terrorist, saying he played a key role in the Garissa University massacre, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 150 people. Most of them were students.
Al-Shabaab, based in Somalia, is fighting to impose Sharia law in the country. It has carried out numerous attacks in Somalia and neighboring countries, and is blamed for the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
The terror group is officially affiliated with al Qaeda, although last year a fraction pledged allegiance to ISIS.