MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A member of Somali rebel group al-Shabab was killed Sunday by a missile fired by a suspected drone, a rebel commander said, blaming the U.S. for the strike. 
 
 Abu Mohamed told The Associated Press that Sahal Iskudhuq, a militant commander who was believed to be close to al-Shabab's top leader, was killed when his car was hit by a missile in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region. The attack took place in a village called Hawai, he said. 
 
 A Somali intelligence official confirmed the attack, describing the victim as a "dangerous" militant. His driver was also killed in the attack, the official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to reveal the information. 
 
 Mohamed blamed the attack on the U.S., which flies drones over Somalia that occasionally fire at one of al-Shabab's top leaders. 
 
 Two U.S. military officials confirm that there was a missile strike against a senior al-Shabab leader in Somalia today. The officials wouldn't identify the target of the strike, and one of the officials said U.S. intelligence is still "assessing the effectiveness of the strike." 
 
 The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. 
 
 Last October, a U.S. military strike hit a vehicle carrying senior members of the al-Qaida-linked group, killing its top explosives expert. Earlier that month, U.S. Navy SEALs had raided a coastal Somali town to take down a Kenyan al-Shabab member. The SEALs withdrew before capturing or killing their target — Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, known as Ikrima — who was identified as the lead planner of a plot by al-Shabab to attack Kenya's parliament building and the United Nations office in capital, Nairobi, in 2011 and 2012. 
 
 Kenya has faced multiple attacks by the militants, who want the country's military to leave Somalia. In September, the militants attacked Nairobi's upscale Westgate Mall with guns and grenades, killing at least 67 people. 
 
 Al-Shabab is now mostly active in Somalia's rural regions, after being ousted from the capital by African Union forces in 2011. But the group is still able to launch lethal attacks— often involving militants on suicide missions —within Mogadishu, the seat of government. 
 
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 AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed from Washington. 

 WASHINGTON The U.S. military carried out a missile strike in Somalia on Sunday targeting a suspected militant leader with ties to al Qaeda and al Shabaab, a U.S. military official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. 
 
 The strike took place in southern Somalia, the official said, without offering further information, including the identity of the suspect or whether the strike was believed to have been successful. 
 
 Another U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in a remote area near Barawe, Somalia. 
 
 Barawe, a militant stronghold on Somalia's southern coast, was the site of a failed raid by American commandos in October targeting a militant known as Ikrima. 
 
 The U.S. forces pulled out after a gun battle without capturing Ikrima, described as a planner and operator who has relentlessly plotted attacks on neighboring Kenya. 
 
 Al Shabaab has been weakened by African Union troops over the past two years, ushering in some stability in many parts of the Horn of Africa country after a campaign of cross-border raids and kidnappings of Westerners and security forces. 
 
 But the rebels, who have waged a seven-year insurgency seeking to impose a strict interpretation of sharia law in Somalia, stunned the world in September when they attacked an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, killing at least 67 people. 
 
 Late last year, the U.S. military deepened its involvement in Somalia, establishing a unit of fewer than five troops in the capital, Mogadishu, to help advice and support African Union and Somali forces. 
 
 (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Jim Loney and Peter Cooney)
– A missile fired from an American drone killed a militant commander in Somalia, a military official tells Reuters. Another militant commander confirmed to the AP that the strike in a southern village had killed Sahal Iskudhuq—who is believed to be close to al-Shabab's top leader—as well as his driver. American officials say they are still "assessing the effectiveness of the strike," which Somali officials say killed a "dangerous" militant.