NAIROBI/JOHANNESBURG ¨C The attack that killed 69 people in a Kenyan shopping mall over the weekend was the first regional operation undertaken by the new leadership of Somalia¡¯s al-Shabab militants following a bloody power struggle.
After months of pressure from African troops against the al-Qaida-linked group inside Somalia, Ahmed Godane, also known as Ahmed Abdi Aw-Mohamed, 34, seized control of the militants in a June fight that led to the death of several leaders. He¡¯s pushed the movement to be more flexible, according to analysts such as Cedric Barnes, the regional director at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. The U.S. in June offered a $7 million reward for information on his whereabouts.
Al-Shabab is ¡°different now,¡± Barnes said in an interview Monday from Nairobi. ¡°It can move fast, it can change direction at will, it can especially do that now under the centralized and firm leadership of Godane.¡±
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