MOGADISHU

A suspected U.S. drone has crashed in a town previously overrun by the Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militant group in the southwestern Bay region, local residents said Sunday.

Locals in Somalia's Burhakaba city told Anadolu Agency that the drone crashed in the nearby Bashir town earlier on Sunday.

They added that the militant group cordoned off the crash site.

The pro-Al-Shabaab Andalus radio, meanwhile, quoted a group leader as saying that his group had seized a U.S. drone which had been on a reconnaissance mission above territories captured earlier by Al-Shabaab.

Several senior Al-Shabaab members have been killed by U.S. drones in the past months.

In September, the group's leader Ahmed Godane Abu Zubeyr was killed in a drone attack in southern Somalia.

Al-Shabaab, which is waging an insurgency against the Somali government, has recently suffered several significant blows, losing most of its strongholds in southern and central Somalia to government and African Union troops.

Nevertheless, the group has continued to launch deadly attacks on government officials and security personnel.