US forces attack Al Qaeda in Somalia

[southsider2k5]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16531987/

 

U.S. airstrikes target al-Qaida in Somalia

Top East Africa operative reportedly killed; more strikes reported Tuesday

 

Updated: 4 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - At least one U.S. airstrike in Somalia that targeted an al-Qaida cell wanted for two 1998 U.S. embassy bombings killed large numbers of Islamic extremists, government officials said Tuesday.

 

The attack 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.

 

Eyewitnesses also said another attack was carried out Monday about 155 miles north of the original strike and more strikes were reported on Tuesday.

 

"Two helicopters have again attacked," said Ali Seed Yusuf, a resident of Afmadow, a southern Somalia town that was attacked by a U.S. Special Forces AC-130 gunship a day earlier. It was unclear whether they were Ethiopian or American helicopters.

 

The Washington Post reported that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, described by U.S. officials as the director al-Qaida operations in East Africa, was killed in the initial attack. The source was Abdirizak Hassan, chief of staff for Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who said he heard of Mohammed’s death from U.S. officials.

 

Separately, a Somali government source told Reuters that ‘The Americans are saying an al-Qaida member heading operations in east Africa is among the Islamists’ targeted. However, he did not know the man’s name or whether he died.

 

First attack since ‘Black Hawk Down’

It is 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 American servicemen dead.

 

Somalia’s president said the U.S. was right to launch airstrikes.

 

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

 

Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed told The Associated Press that the U.S. has the Somali government’s “full support.”

 

At least one AC-130 gunship was used, according to a U.S. government official who spoke late Monday only on condition of anonymity because of the operation’s sensitivity. NBC VIDEO

 

AC-130 gunships are heavily armed aircraft with elaborate sensors that can go after discrete targets day or night. They are operated by the Special Operations Command and have been used heavily against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

 

The White House, for its part, would not confirm the U.S. air attack. Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a Defense Department spokesman, said he could neither confirm nor deny the reports of an airstrike. There was no U.S. confirmation of casualties or word on the fate of the targets.

 

But the U.S. military said Tuesday it had sent the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to join three other U.S. warships conducting anti-terror operations off the Somali coast. The aircraft carrier is part of the Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet.

 

U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown in Bahrain said the Navy had no supporting role in U.S. attacks in Somalia.

 

U.S. warships have been seeking to capture al-Qaida members thought to be fleeing Somalia in the wake of Ethiopia’s Dec. 24 invasion.

 

Sheltered in Kismayo

Somali Prime Minister Gedi said late last month that Islamic militants in Kismayo, Somalia’s third-largest city, were sheltering alleged bombers Mohammed as well as Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Abu Talha al-Sudani, a Sudanese who is married to a Somali woman and has lived in Somalia since 1993.

 

The bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed more than 250 people.

 

The same operatives are also believed responsible for a 2002 attack on Israeli tourists in Kenya that killed 15 and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli aircraft the same day, NBC News reported.

 

The U.S. airstrike comes 16 days after Ethiopia forces invaded Somalia to prevent an Islamic movement ousting the weak, internationally recognized government from its lone stronghold in the west of the country. The U.S. and Ethiopia both accuse the Islamic group of harboring extremists, among them al-Qaida suspects.

 

Ethiopian troops, tanks and warplanes took just 10 days to drive the Islamic group from the capital, Mogadishu, and other key towns.

 

 

The U.S. attack took place on Monday afternoon on Badmadow island. The Somali defense minister said it happened in an area known as Ras Kamboni, a suspected base terrorist base.

 

“The strike was carried out after it had been confirmed that al-Qaida members are hiding there in the area,” government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said.

 

“We don’t know how many people were killed in the attack but we understand there were a lot of casualties,” he said. “Most were Islamic fighters.”

 

Separately, a witness told the AP that a gunship hit targets about 30 miles east of Afmadow town, 155 miles north of Ras Kamboni.

 

“My 4-year-old boy was killed in the strike,” Mohamed Mahmud Burale told the AP by telephone from the outskirts of Afmadow. “We also heard 14 massive explosions.”

 

Burale’s claim couldn’t immediately be confirmed.

 

Islamists cornered?

After two days of fierce fighting, Ethiopian and Somali forces say they are on the verge of capturing Ras Kamboni, where they say the Islamic movement is cornered.

 

U.S. officials said after the Sept. 11 attacks that extremists with ties to al-Qaida operated a training camp at Ras Kamboni and al-Qaida members are believed to have visited it. The alleged mastermind of the embassy bombings in East Africa, Mohammed, escaped to Ras Kamboni, according to testimony from one of the convicted bombers.

 

Mohammed, 31, has been the most targeted al-Qaida operative in Africa for nearly a decade. He is most commonly known as Harun Fazul. He is fluent in English, French, Arabic and Swahili.

 

Mohammed has been indicted in the United States in connection with the Aug. 6, 1998, embassy bombings and the U.S. has established a reward of $5 million for information leading to his capture.

 

Leaders of the Islamic movement have vowed from their hideouts to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war in Somalia, and al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden’s deputy has called on militants to carry out suicide attacks on the Ethiopian troops.

 

On Monday Somalia’s interim president, Abdullahi Yusuf, entered the restive capital for the first time since his election in a country riven by more than a decade of anarchy.

 

Somalia has not had an effective central government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, sinking the Horn of Africa nation of 7 million people into chaos.

 

At least 13 attempts at government have failed since then. The current government was established in 2004 with U.N. backing.

 

The Associated Press, Reuters and NBC News producer Robert Windrem contributed to this report.

[KipWellsFan]

I've been following this pretty closely. Here's what I said about it on my blog.

 

He's not Osama, Zawahiri or big ole Mullah Omar but Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and his crew have really got the attention of the Americans in Somalia these days. No doubt everyone's noticed that the U.S. has gotten back into the game in Somalia these last couple months worried over the formerly burgeoning radical Islamist force. Now the U.S. is trying to capitalize on their defeat as the Islamic Courts Union has been pushed into the Southernmost corner of the country. The last two days have seen gunship and helicopter strikes in the area and apparently top al-Qaeda leadership is the target, with Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, allegedly the leader of the al-Qaeda in this area the number one target.

 

 

It's really a mystery as to what is actually transpiring here. No one seems to know exactly what the al-Qaeda presence is here or if the United States is just connecting the dots to promote their version of the War on Terror. But what seems certain is that there are some bad dudes and the U.S. is trying to get them. The confusion is certainly displayed by the conflicting media reports on the situation. But what I've taken note of is the lack of results we have seen from US attacks on the last remaining ICU strongholds. Considering the numerous debacles the Americans have been involved with in the region you would think that the Americans would trumpet any success as quickly as possible.

 

Where's the military announcement about Mohammed or one of his cohorts deaths? How about dead body images ala Uday and Qusay? Well we've seen none so far. Is the area still inaccessible, due to remaining ICU forces? There are apparently Special Forces in the area, perhaps they'll play a role in assessing the results of the attacks.

 

I imagine considering the risk of another embarassment in Somalia the U.S. would have only acted in the region with likelihood of success being very probable. And considering how this story has become headline news around the world it is only a matter of time before the media begins to question the outcome. That's why I tend to think that the United States actions in the region are not yet over. They will want to conclude their mission with a positive message and that's when we'll probably hear about the high value targets. The end of America's current actions there could very well be marked by a big news kill whether it happens at the end of their action or it already has. Considering the pathetic results in the War on Terror so far one would think the U.S. would want a success once and a while. And if the U.S. combines Ethiopia's victory with some big hits on al-Qaeda it would be at the very least a large symbolic success.

 

Anyway I probably don't know enough about the region and its history to be speculating, and this is probably a story who's details will never be fully revealed but it's damn interesting all the same.

 

thedanreport.blogspot.com

Edited January 10, 2007 by KipWellsFan

[southsider2k5]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/01/10...rike/index.html

 

KISMAYO, Somalia (CNN) -- A U.S.-led airstrike in Somalia has killed the suspected orchestrator of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, Somali officials said Wednesday.

 

However, U.S. officials would not confirm that al Qaeda's Fazul Abdullah Mohammed had been killed or American involvement in the airstrikes.

 

Backed by U.S. air support, Ethiopian and Somali government forces battled Islamist fighters and al Qaeda operatives Wednesday in the southern town of Dhobley near the Kenyan border, according to Col. Abdirizaq Afgadud, a senior Somali military commander, and Abdirashid Hidig, a lawmaker.

 

A Somali official told CNN the United States confirmed that Mohammed was killed and no civilians harmed. It's unclear when the death occurred.

 

Mohammed, one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists, was accused of planning the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 225 people. A $5 million reward had sought his capture.

 

Media reports suggested additional U.S. airstrikes had been carried out, but a Pentagon duty officer said he was not aware of any operations.

 

Villagers reported aerial bombardments in the region Tuesday, but it was not clear whether Ethiopian or U.S. helicopters were responsible.

 

On Sunday night, a U.S. aerial gunship carried out an airstrike on suspected al Qaeda targets in the same area, Pentagon and White House spokesmen said. (Watch how intelligence on al Qaeda operatives prompted the launch )

 

Sunday's strike was the first overt American action in Somalia since the U.S. military pulled out of the capital of Mogadishu in 1994, months after militia fighters loyal to a Somali warlord shot down two Black Hawk helicopters, killing 18 members of U.S. Special Forces.

 

Ethiopia's air force has conducted airstrikes in support of Somalia's interim government forces against Islamist fighters.

 

A senior Pentagon official said Sunday's U.S. airstrike targeted five al Qaeda operatives who fled to southern Somalia last month after Ethiopian-backed Somali troops forced Islamist militants out of Mogadishu. (Watch how al Qaeda operations in Somalia have alarmed U.S. officials )

 

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

 

U.S. officials have accused the Islamic Courts Union -- which wrested control of Mogadishu from a U.S.-backed coalition of warlords in June -- of harboring al Qaeda terrorists, including the suspects in the 1998 bombings. The Islamists have denied the allegations.

 

The Defense Department offered no details on whether Sunday's airstrike was successful, or whether the U.S. military has carried out further ones.

 

White House spokesman Tony Snow confirmed a U.S. military operation occurred overnight Sunday in Somalia but referred specific questions to the Pentagon. Snow added that he did not believe the U.S. Congress was consulted.

 

The operation, carried out by an Air Force AC-130, reportedly was launched based on intelligence that al Qaeda operatives were in the area.

 

Somalian interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed had few details but said he supported its goals.

 

"I don't know that airstrike was in two places or not, but if it's confirmed, I agree with the Americans to target those who were behind the bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa," Ahmed said.

[KipWellsFan]

U.S. still has not confirmed the kill. However I have heard that all that's left is a DNA test to prove it's him. However I believe it was thought that Ayman al-Zawahari was dead a couple of times as well. Huge kill if he's dead.

[KipWellsFan]

They didn't get any of them.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6251077.stm

 

f sakes...

[southsider2k5]

They didn't get any of them.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6251077.stm

 

f sakes...

 

It figures. At least it wasn't our officials saying that they had done it.

[Balta1701]

So who were the 5-27 people we killed with this attack (depending on who's statement you read)

[KipWellsFan]

So who were the 5-27 people we killed with this attack (depending on who's statement you read)

 

I assume that it's mostly the remnants of the Islamic Courts Union. But the reports are all over the place so who really knows.

 

I believe Fazul's wife is in custody in Kenya though.

Edited January 11, 2007 by KipWellsFan

[KipWellsFan]

A Kenyan counter-terrorism source said the wives and three children of two al Qaeda suspects, wanted for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and a 2002 hotel blast on the Kenyan coast, had been arrested.

 

Unconfirmed reports say one of three al Qaeda suspects -- Comorian Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Sudanese Abu Talha al-Sudani and Kenyan Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan -- was killed. But it was not known which one.

 

...

 

Mohammed and Nabhan's wives and children were caught trying to cross into Kenya from Ras Kamboni, on Somalia's southern tip, long thought by Western and east African intelligence agencies to be the site of a militant training camp.

 

"They were arrested on Monday at Kiunga. They headed for Nairobi today in a police chopper for questioning," the counter-terrorism source told Reuters.

full story

http://www.garoweonline.com/stories/publis...icle_7024.shtml