Leader of Qaeda-Linked Somali Group Is Dead, U.S. Says

NEWPORT, Wales — The American airstrikes on Monday against the Shabab, the Qaeda-linked militant network in Somalia, succeeded in killing the group’s leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, the Pentagon announced Friday. “We have confirmed that Ahmed Godane, the co- founder of al-Shabab, has been killed,” the Pentagon press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said in a statement. He called the death of Mr. Godane “a major
symbolic and operational loss” to the Shabab. Defense officials had waited several days to confirm that Mr. Godane was indeed killed in the
strike.