Somalia: Al-Shabaab commander captured
December 27, 2014 -- Updated 1456 GMT (2256 HKT)
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Zakariya Ismail Ahmed
Hersi, Al-Shabaab's intelligence chief, was captured near the town of
El-Wak, Somali military commander Isack Hussein Mursal told state-run
radio.
He was a close associate
of former Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, who was killed in a U.S.
airstrike, near Barawe city in September.
.
Somali forces captured
Zakariya and his driver without confrontation in a house in El Wak,
officials said. They had issued a a $3 million reward for his capture.
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"Zakariya has told us
following his capture that he left Al-Shabaab a year and half ago and
since then was looking for to surrender to the Somali government," Col.
Abas Ibrahim Gurey, a senior military official, told CNN.
.
The capture comes after militants with the group, which is linked to al Qaeda, attacked a large African Union base in Mogadishu on Thursday, killing three Ugandan soldiers and a civilian.
Al-Shabaab has said that attack was revenge for the U.S. airstrike that killed Godane.
Pierre Meilhan and Margot Haddad contributed to this story
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