MOGADISHU
Somali government forces have captured top Al-Shabaab leader Zakariya Ismail Hersi near Kenyan border, the government said Saturday.
"Zakariya was arrested earlier today in El Wak Gedo. He is at the moment detained by the Somali national army in Gedo region," Interior Ministry official Mohamed Osman said.
The details surrounding his capture remain unclear.
Hersi was Al-Shabaab's Intelligence Chief, who had a bounty of $3 million on his head.
He had fallen with slain Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Godane, who had been killed in a U.S. airstrike in September.
The militant leader is expected to be flown to Mogadishu for interrogation, according to Osman
Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.
Earlier this year, fractious Somalia appeared to inch closer to stability after government troops and African Union forces – deployed in the country since 2007 – drove Al-Shabaab from most of its strongholds.
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