A United States Predator Drone strike in Somalia has killed two top leaders of al Shabab, the Ismalist terrorist group that carried out the civilian massacre at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya last month, according to an unnamed Pentagon official cited by American media sources.

A car carrying the two leaders was struck by Hellfire missiles fired from a Predator, said the official, who contended that no one outside the vehicle was killed. One of the dead men is identified as “Anta”, the group’s most-important explosives expert.  The official didn’t name the second man.

Earlier, witnesses reported the drone strike near the town of Jilib, 70-miles north of the Somali border with Kenya.

“It was after afternoon prayers between 1:30 pm and 2 pm when I heard a loud bang.  Just one big bang,” said one witness.  “I came to the scene shortly after.  I saw two dead bodies.  Then al-Shabab fighters came to the scene and took the bodies from the Suzuki vehicle.  It was a drone strike.”