Nairobi: Somali insurgents say that a US drone strike killed an al Qaeda official fighting alongside them in Somalia.
A statement from the insurgent al-Kataib media foundation late Saturday says that three missiles fired from an unmanned aerial vehicle hit Bilal al-Berjawi's car on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Berjawi was a Lebanese and British citizen who grew up in West London.
The strike was confirmed by a US official in Washington. He asked for anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Berjawi was a close associate of late al Qaeda operative Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who directed the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, January 22, 2012, 12:48