Somalia’s government says it has killed Abdullahi Nadir, one of the co-founders of the armed group al-Shabab, in an operation with international partners.

The country’s information ministry said in a statement late on Sunday that the operation that killed Nadir happened on Saturday. Its said he was al-Shabab’s chief prosecutor and was in line to replace the group’s leader, Ahmed Diriye, who is sick.

Government spokesperson says, Since 2006, the group has killed tens of thousands of people in bombings in its fight to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed central government and implement its interpretation of Islamic law.