The US government had placed a $5 million bounty on the head of spy chief Mahad Karate, with Kenya celebrating what they called a "major blow" to the Islamist force.
Kenyan troops, part of an African Union force in Somalia (AMISOM) fighting the Islamist insurgents, claimed to have killed Karate, a top commander also responsible for internal security, in an air strike at a Shebab training camp earlier this month.
"The killing... is a major blow to the terrorist group," the Kenyan army statement read.
Karate -- head of the Shebab's Amniyat unit, a special security wing responsible for intelligence, attacks and assassinations -- is said to have been involved in plotting the 2015 massacre of 148 people at Garissa university in north-east Kenya.
"The Kenya Defence Forces, under AMISOM operations, would like to confirm that Mahad Mohammed Karate... and 10 other middle level commanders were killed in a major KDF strike," in southern Somalia on February 8, the statement read.
The claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate reaction from the Shebab.
Additional: Islam Media Analysis