[Stripes] A senior al-Shabab leader who played a key role in plotting deadly attacks throughout East Africa has been killed in an airstrike in Somalia, U.S. Africa Command said Tuesday.Yusuf Jiis was one of three al-Shabab members killed in the April 2 airstrike, AFRICOM said. The strike was one of a flurry of attacks in Somalia in recent days.
Jiis was "violent, ruthless, and responsible for the loss of many innocent lives," AFRICOM commander Gen. Stephen Townsend said in a statement. "His removal makes Somalia and neighboring countries safer."
AFRICOM has launched six airstrikes in Somalia since April 2, including one on Monday in which five terrorists were killed, it said.