Somali al-Qaida leader dies in air strike

MOGADISHU, Somalia, May 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. air strike in Somalia Thursday killed an al-Qaida leader in East Africa who also was a leader in the Islamist revival in Somalia, Somali officials said.

The air strike targeted Aden Hashi Ayro, a leader of al-Shabab, an Islamist militia the United States considers a terrorist organization, CNN reported.

U.S. military officials said the Somali government permitted them to attack terrorist suspects on Somali soil, The New York Times reported. U.S. officials accused Ayro of protecting wanted al-Qaida members, including some thought to have planned the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Ayro, believed to be in his 30s, was blamed for a number of atrocities, including desecrating an Italian graveyard in Mogadishu, killing a female BBC journalist and planning suicide attacks all across Somalia.

The strike was at a house in the central Somalia town of Dhusamareb.

"This will definitely weaken the Shabab," said Mohamed Aden, consul at the Somali embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. "This will help with reconciliation. You can't imagine how many Somalis are saying yes, this is the one. The reaction is so good."