The U.S. carried out an airstrike in Somalia on Thursday against a senior terrorist leader responsible for planning attacks that killed at least three Americans.
The results of the strike targeting Hassan Ali Dhoore, a leader of al Shabab, are still being assessed, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
“Removing Dhoore from the battlefield would be a significant blow to al Shabab’s operational planning and ability to conduct attacks against the government of the Federal Republic of Somalia, its citizens, U.S. partners in the region and against Americans abroad,” Cook said.
Dhoore was a member of al Shabab’s security and intelligence wing and was “heavily involved” in planning high profile attacks in Mogadishu.
The terrorist, who was also a member of al Qaeda, played a direct role in two attacks in Mogadishu: one on the airport in 2014 that killed one U.S. citizen, and a second in March 2015 on the Maka al-Mularram Hotel that killed 15 people, including one Somali-American.
The Pentagon did not provide details of the attack in which the third American was killed.
Dhoore is also believed to have been plotting more attacks against U.S. citizens in Mogadishu.
