U.S. targets al Qaeda suspects in Somalia

[JLB]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/01/08/somalia.strike/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. gunship has attacked suspected al Qaeda targets in southern Somalia, a senior Pentagon official said Monday.

The AC-130 flew its mission within the last 24 hours, the official told CNN. The operation was launched based on intelligence that al Qaeda operatives were in the location, but there was no immediate indication of how successful the strike had been.

Additionally, the official said, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has moved within striking distance of Somalia, but its jets have not been put to use.

Three al Qaeda operatives accused in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania have been hiding in Somalia for years. The US believes they were closely tied to the Somali Islamic group - the ICU.

"We had seen intelligence evidence these three Al Qaeda operative were very much influencing the leadership of the council of the ICU -- for example providing logistics, fuel and arms to the militias," said Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African affairs

U.S. officials in East Africa said earlier this week that al Qaeda operatives were developing the ability to attack U.S. targets just as they did when the embassy bombings killed hundreds.

[pmoon6]

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf told journalists in the capital, Mogadishu, that the U.S. "has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania."


(CBS/AP) Two U.S. airstrikes in Somalia killed large numbers of Islamic extremists, government officials and witnesses said Tuesday.

A U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship conducted the strikes against suspected members of al Qaeda, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin first reported Monday.

The targets included the senior al Qaeda leader in East Africa and an al Qaeda operative wanted for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa, Martin reported. Those terror attacks killed more than 200 people.

The attacks came after the terror suspects were spotted hiding on a remote island on the southern tip of Somalia, close to the Kenyan border, Somali officials said. The island and a site 155 miles north were hit.

Ethiopia's prime minister said in an interview published Tuesday that suspected terrorists from Canada, Britain, Pakistan and elsewhere have been among those taken prisoner or injured in the military operations in Somalia.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was quoted by French newspaper Le Monde as saying that he didn't know the exact number of prisoners in Somalia "because it changes constantly."

"But many international terrorists are dead in Somalia," Meles was quoted as saying. "Photographs have been taken and passports from different countries have been collected. The Kenyans are holding Eritrean and Canadian passport holders. We have injured people coming from Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan, the United Kingdom."

It was the first overt military action by the U.S. in Somalia since the 1990s and the legacy of a botched intervention — known as "Black Hawk Down" — that left 18 U.S. servicemen dead. The U.S. military said Tuesday it had sent an aircraft carrier to join three other U.S. warships conducting anti-terror operations off the Somali coast.

U.S. warships have been seeking to capture al Qaeda members thought to be fleeing Somalia after Ethiopia invaded Dec. 24 in support of the government and have begun flying intelligence-gathering missions over Somalia.

President Abdullahi Yusuf told journalists in the capital, Mogadishu, that the U.S. "has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania." Monday, Yusuf had entered the restive capital for the first time since his election.

Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed told The Associated Press the U.S. had "our full support for the attacks."

But others in the capital said the attacks would only increase anti-American sentiment in the largely Muslim country.

"U.S. involvement in the fighting in our country is completely wrong," said Sahro Ahmed, a 37-year-old mother of five.

Already, many people in predominantly Muslim Somalia had resented the presence of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population and has fought two brutal wars with Somalia, most recently in 1977.


more...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/08/world/main2335451.shtml

[deconstruction]

Big suprize. Here's the subtext: Bushco thinks he can do whatever he wants, and can ignore international law.

[nehemiah]

the somali govt gave them permission to bomb. they didn't break international laws, in this case.

war on terra!

dig it!

JIHAD.

[г]

I can just see it now...Somali Prez hanged for bombing 'his own people'

[Lucidvizion]

Self-hating brown person?

[mark3274]

hmmm is there any oil near somalia? lol

hmmmm I wonder? who's running the pentagon mr gates? or Exxonmobile LOL

http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/15

wait those head chopping terrorists are there I see now........ flame on bushy flame on ! lol

[JLB]

Interesting read from yesterday.

[pmoon6]

This should be merged with "U.S. Widens War On Terror". Same news.

[JLB]

Agreed.

[JLB]

the somali govt gave them permission to bomb. they didn't break international laws, in this case.

war on terra!

dig it!

JIHAD.

Can somebody merge all the Somalia threads who has the power and a foot long?

[nehemiah]

since i'm the only one who fits the bill.............. moiged.

[JLB]

since i'm the only one who fits the bill.............. moiged.



http://www.osobnosti.cz/img/userpics/5/5433.jpg

Thank you Scarlett's guy.

[Gibby]

We are going after Al Qaeda. I can justify this.

[JLB]

We are going after Al Qaeda. I can justify this.



Let's keep going after them right Gibby?

[Gibby]

Let's keep going after them right Gibby?

yup, especially since this group attacked us via the East Africa embassy bombings of 1998.

[JLB]

MOGADISHU -- Many people were killed in Somalia in a U.S. air strike targeting al Qaeda suspects among fleeing Islamist fighters, Somali officials said on Tuesday.

The U.S. strike, part of a wide offensive also involving Ethiopian planes, was apparently aimed at an al Qaeda cell said to include suspects in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa and a hotel on the Kenyan coast.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/1/9/170326.shtml?s=lh