Somalia: Al-Shabaab commander captured
December 27, 2014 -- Updated 1456 GMT (2256 HKT)
.
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.
. 
"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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