WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s decision to mount two risky capture raids against Al Qaeda operatives in North Africa reflects a reduced role for lethal CIA drone strikes and a growing role for the Pentagon in leading counter-terrorism operations, U.S. officials said Sunday.

In storming the coastal Somalia home of a leader of Shabab, the Somali-based group that claimed responsibility for last month’s massacre inside a shopping mall in Nairobi, the Obama administration opted to put U.S. Navy SEALs at risk against a fixed target that could have been destroyed with bombs or missiles from the air.

The suspect sought in the raid was not captured, though he may have been killed in a firefight that ultimately forced the U.S. force to withdraw, officials said. Unconfirmed reports Sunday indicated the U.S. operation was aimed at Shabab’s charismatic leader, Ahmed Godane, who recently carried out an internal purge of the organization. [Link]