Somali and African troops have captured a new town from Shebab Islamists during a major offensive, the army said Thursday, days after U.S. air strikes targeted the extremists' leader.

The death of the leader of Somalia's al-Qaida-linked Shebab rebels in a U.S. air strike is a "very strong probability," but still unconfirmed, security sources told Agence France Presse Wednesday.

A U.S. air raid in Somalia targeted the leader of Somalia's Shebab militants but it remained unclear if the top commander was killed in the strike, two American officials confirmed Tuesday.

Military and intelligence officers were still assessing the results of Monday's bombing raid, said two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Over a million people in war-torn Somalia are struggling in conditions close to famine, with hunger and drought due to worsen, United Nations experts said Tuesday.

A French Islamist suspected of heading a militant network told a Belgium court Tuesday that he took part in a deadly ambush against African peacekeeping troops in Somalia.

The retrial of Frenchman Rachid Benomari opened at a time of mounting concern over the number of Europeans believed to be traveling to Syria, Africa and the Afghan-Pakistani border to fight alongside jihadist groups.

U.S. forces have carried out air strikes against the leader of Somalia's Al-Qaida-linked Shebab rebels, with casualties reported but uncertainty hanging over the fate of the main target, officials said Tuesday.

The Pentagon confirmed an "operation" was carried out on Monday against the hardline militia, and that it was "assessing the results".

Somalia's Shebab rebels carried out a major car bomb and gun attack against an intelligence headquarters in central Mogadishu on Sunday, leaving at least seven militants and four others dead.

The al-Qaida-linked militia claimed responsibility for the raid against the complex, which also houses a major detention facility, saying it was being used for the "torture and humiliation" of "innocent Muslims."

African Union forces claimed to have liberated a former Shebab stronghold in Somalia on Saturday as part of a joint offensive with government troops aimed at capturing key ports from the Islamist fighters.

The AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said it had captured the town of Bulomarer, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of the capital Mogadishu.

A military court in Somalia has sentenced two Islamist Shebab gunmen to death for killing a journalist, the information minister said Saturday.

Somali and African Union forces said they seized control Monday of a strategic town from Shebab Islamist fighters, in the latest military advance against the extremists.

Hundreds of Somali and Ethiopian troops with the AU force in Somalia (AMISOM) entered the town of Tiyeglow in the southwestern Bakool region, some 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Mogadishu, with the Islamists fleeing ahead of the advance.