Pentagon: Designer of the Mall Attack in Kenya Killed in Drone Strike

The U.S. Department of Defense, Pentagon, has confirmed that Adnan Garar, a key leader of the Al-Shabaab group and the designer of the 2013 attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, which left 67 dead, was killed in a drone strike. The Pentagon announced in a statement on March 17 that the targeted operation took place on March 12 (a week ago) in the Dinsor region of Somalia. According to this statement, the U.S. military drone targeted a vehicle carrying Adnan Garar, a member of the security and intelligence branch of Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. The Pentagon stated, "The attack was successful, resulting in Garar's death." In addition to the 67 fatalities, 200 people were injured in the attack on the mall in Nairobi. Two years ago, members of Al-Shabaab carried out an armed assault on a shopping mall in Nairobi to avenge Kenya's support for the Somali government in its battle against this extremist group, killing 67 people and injuring 200 others. A Pentagon spokesperson stated, "Garar was a serious threat to the region and the international community... his death is another significant blow to Al-Shabaab in Somalia." The Associated Press reported that two other individuals were also killed in the attack. Al-Shabaab is considered one of the largest and most powerful branches of Al-Qaeda in Africa. This group controls remote areas of southern Somalia and has also conducted attacks in Uganda, in addition to Somalia and Kenya.