The US military has targeted a senior leader of the al Shabaab Islamist militant group in Somalia.
"The strike took place in the vicinity of Saakow, Somalia," Defense Department spokesman Mark Wright said in a statement.
"At this time, we do not assess there to be any civilian or bystander casualties. We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information, when appropriate, as details become available."
The airstrike came after a man identified as a senior intelligence official in the group, which is seeking to overthrow the Somali government, surrendered.
Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi - the subject of a $3m bounty as part of the US State Department "Rewards for Justice" programme - reportedly handed himself over to government and AU troops on Saturday.
He was said to have been hiding out in the Gedo region, which borders Kenya and Ethiopia.
But al Shabaab claimed he had left the group more than a year ago.
"All the information on military set up or plans he knew has been changed since he left, and therefore the so-called defector has no intelligence value to offer to our enemies,"a senior militant was quoted as telling AFP.
Hersi was said to have been close to al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, who was killed in a US airstrike
Al Shabaab - meaning The Youth - grew out of the Islamic Courts Union which controlled Mogadishu and much of Somalia in 2006 before being forced out by Ethiopian forces.
It has since been fighting a bitter war with government troops and the African Union forces. It has also been blamed for attacks in Kenya and Uganda.
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