Doha: Four operatives were killed, among them a key leader from Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda-linked group, in a military operation in the southeast of the country, Somali authorities announced Saturday.

According to Qatar News Agency, local sources reported that the Somali People's Resistance Forces had successfully taken out this key leader and three of his guards in the town of Mahaday in the Middle Shabelle region.

The forces launched a large-scale attack on the compound where the leader and his guards were entrenched, neutralizing the enemy personnel and seizing the weapons in their possession.

The operation was part of heightening the Somali military's efforts against the strongholds of this armed group, after the military had restored several sites over recent months that were under the dominion of Al-Shabaab, especially in the central part of the country.