A senior Al Shabaab member was killed in a US drone strike last week in southern Somalia, the Somali intelligence agency has confirmed.
Somali National Intelligence Agency (SNIA) said in a statement Wednesday that Yusuf Dheeg, the militant group's senior intelligence officer, was killed in the air strike.
"Yusuf Dheeg was the coordinator of guerrilla attacks inside and outside Somalia. He was also one of the main leaders of Al Shabaab," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.
The agency said several other top members had also been killed in Saturday's US drone attack targeting key Al Shabaab installations and its leaders in Somalia.
The US government said Tuesday Dheeg was the target of the airstrike but could not confirm if he was killed.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said analysts were still assessing results of the attack, but had determined that no civilians were injured.
The death of Dheeg deals a major blow to the militant group, which has lost some of its key leaders in the recent past, including the group's leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, who was killed in an airstrike by US drones in September 2014.