The Kenyan military has said it can now confirm the killing of Mohamed Karatey, al Shabaab’s Deputy Commander and Head of Intelligence.
Kenyan defence forces said in a statement on Thursday in Nairobi, that Karatey was killed at the graduation ceremony for insurgent fighters, on Feb. 8 by the Kenyan troops, working under the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
It said Karatey before his death was the head of a deadly unit, known as Amniyat and comprised; spies, suicide bombers and explosives experts.
The statement said further that Karatey was the masterminded of a deadly attack on a Kenyan military camp in southern Somalia last month.
The statement said it was believed that Karatey played a major role in the recent attack on KDF troops in El Adde by the deployment of his suicide bombers.
“His killing now adds to that of the killing of Abdi Dek, the operation commander of the Abu Zubeyr Brigade that carried out the attack in El Adde.”
The statement gave no further details on killing of Karatey but said the Kenyan military had also killed 42 al Shabaab recruits and 10 other mid-level al Shabaab commanders during the raid.
Kenyan troops took heavy losses when al Shabaab launched a dawn raid on their camp in El Adde near the Kenyan border on Jan. 15, although they have not disclosed exact casualty figures.
Al Shabaab claimed the attack had killed more than 100 soldiers.
The Islamist insurgents have links to al Qaeda and seek to overthrow Somalia’s weak Western-backed government and drove out the AU soldiers supporting them.
Al Shabaab has inflated casualty figures in the past, while other official estimates often play them down.
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