KATHMANDU: Somali security forces have killed a commander of the al-Shabaab militant group in a military operation .

Ahsraf Azmi Abu Hamdan, who was from Nepal, was a senior trainer in the Islamist group, , state radio reported on Thursday.

He was killed in an operation in the Middle Juba region in southern Somalia, state radio said. Three other fighters were also killed.

Al-Shabaab has been fighting to topple Somalia’s central government since 2008 to establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islam’s sharia law.