Al-Shabaab terror suspect gunned down by Kenyan police

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - A top al-Shabaab leader was gunned down Tuesday after police raided his hideout in southern Kenya.

Ismael Mohammed Shosi, who was the target of a $20,000 bounty, was labelled by authorities as one of the leaders of the terror group’s Mombasa unit.

In a statement, the Kenyan Interior Ministry said that the wanted terror suspect was killed in an armed confrontation with police in the town of Kisauni in Mombasa.

Shosi had been previously accused of organizing the shooting of police officers in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa. He is also said to have headed the Mombasa Unit of the Somalia-based al Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab militant group.

Mombasa County’s police commander Robert Kitur had previously told local media in Kenya that Shosi had been involved in the murder of National Intelligence Service officer Hisham Salman Ali in July 2015 as he walked out of a mosque.