Two senior leaders of Somalia's Islamist movement were killed when four planes dropped bombs over the house they were staying in early Thursday morning, an Islamist commander said.

"It is true that infidel planes bombed Dusamareb. Two of our important people, including Aden Hashi Eyrow, were killed in the incident," Mukhtar Robow Adumansur, a senior commander of the Islamists, told Reuters.

The leaders belonged to al Shabaab, the military wing of Islamic courts movement ousted at the end of 2006.

"An American plane bombed the house of al Shaabab leader Aden Hashi Eyrow," one resident told Reuters.

"I could see pieces of human bodies lying outside the house. It was difficult to go in because of heavily armed fighters guarding the area."

Another resident said the town was woken up by two loud explosions at about 2 a.m.

"When we came out, we saw a home in the neighborhood entirely destroyed by two missiles fired by planes flying over us. We counted four planes," said Amina Warsame, a resident of the town that is in central Somalia.

Al Shabaab has led an Iraq-style fight against the government and its Ethiopian allies since early 2007.

The fight began when the Islamic Courts Union, of which Al Shabaab was a part, lost control of Mogadishu.

PHOTO CAPTION 

Map of Somalia

Reuters