Mogadishu: The Somali government announced on Monday that a top al-Shabaab terrorist carrying a US$3 million bounty was killed in a joint airstrike in southern Somalia.

But in a statement posted online on Monday, the Somali military and international security partners carried out a drone strike on October 1, killing Abdullahi Yare near the coastal town of Haramka, the information ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"This leader ... was the group's leading preacher and one of the most notorious Shabab members," it said.

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"He was the former head of the Shoura Council and the group's director for finance," the ministry said, referring to al-Shabaab's advisory body.

According to the ministry, Yare, a co-founder of the al-Qaeda-linked group, was expected to take over the leadership of the movement from its ailing chief Ahmed Diriyah.
"Their elimination is like removing a thorn from Somalia as a nation," the ministry said.

Yare was one of seven politicians named on America's most wanted list in 2012. Washington offered $3 million to capture him.
The strike comes just weeks after Somalia's newly-elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamed vowed to wage an all-out war against jihadists after several deadly attacks. These include a 30-hour hotel siege in Mogadishu, in which 21 people were killed.

Last month, Mohamed urged citizens to avoid areas controlled by al-Shabaab, vowing to take aggressive measures against the militants.
In the past, the US military has cooperated with African Union troops and Somali troops in counter-terrorism operations, conducting frequent raids and drone strikes on al-Shabaab training camps in Somalia.

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Last month, the US military announced the death of 27 jihadist fighters in an airstrike near Bulobarde, the main city on a road connecting Mogadishu to Beledwene, a major city on the border with Ethiopia. According to the statement, the airstrike was carried out "at the request" of the Somali government.

Al-Shabaab, which adheres to a strict interpretation of Sharia or Islamic law, has waged a 15-year bloody rebellion against the Mogadishu government and remains a formidable force despite the African Union's operation against it.

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Its fighters were driven out of the capital in 2011, but they still attack military, government and civilian targets.
Last week, the group claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed a senior Somali police officer near the al-Shabaab-controlled village of Bursa, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Mogadishu.