By Andrew Ross

NAIROBI, Kenya 

The Kenyan Ministry of Interior confirmed Thursday the deaths of four senior al-Shabaab commanders, including the mastermind behind the Garissa University attack that killed 148 people.

“It is a great day for Kenya. I can confirm that at 2am (Thursday) a U.S. drone attack killed four top al-Shabaab commanders,” interior ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

“Garissa University attack mastermind Mohamed Kuno… was killed in the morning attack,” Njoka said.

“This is a great blow to the Somali militants as yesterday the Kenya Defense Forces were also able to kill seven commanders who ambushed one of their vehicles,” the spokesman added.

Njoka said the U.S. drone strike took place in Somalia’s Juungal area.

On April 2, al-Shabaab militants stormed Garissa University in northeastern Kenya, killing 148 people, 142 of whom were students.

Kenya then issued a $195,000 million bounty for the attack’s mastermind, Mohamed Kuno.

U.S. president Barack Obama is expected to visit Kenya later this month on July 24 for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.