The elite Danab Special Forces killed a senior Al-Shabaab commander in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The elite Danab Special Forces killed a senior Al-Shabaab commander in Somalia over the weekend, officials said, making a significant run in the fight against the militants who have grounded the country's struggling economy for the last two decades.

Al-Shabaab has been fighting to topple the fragile UN-backed federal government of Somalia but efforts by multi-agency security teams have managed to stabilize the country, although several villages are still under the control of the militants.

According to reports, an operation in Lower Shabelle left a senior commander of the group dead in what the military referred as to an 'important' milestone in the fight against the group. Several members of the group were also killed, officials said.

The operation took place at Hanti Wadag and the leader identified as Zubeir was killed during the confrontation. Zubeir was the senior security chief of the group, in charge of operations, the government reported without giving finer details.

According to the government, the Danab commandos also destroyed the group's positions in the area, vowing to continue such operations against the al-Shabab group. The government is still pursuing militants who may have fled from the scene, authorities revealed.

The Somali National Army has been conducting raids across the country targeting Al-Shabaab militants who control large swathes of rural central and southern regions. The operations in these regions have left thousands of the militants dead.

According to reports, the government troops with assistance from the US Africa Command and the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) have managed to kill over 4,000 Al-Shabaab militants in the last three years.

GAROWE ONLINE