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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/1/24/123753.shtml?s=lh
U.S. Launches New Airstrike in Somalia
NewsMax.com Wires Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The United States launched an airstrike in Somalia against
suspected terrorist targets - the second such attack this month, defense
officials said Wednesday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the action was
carried out in secret, provided few details about the strike by an Air Force
AC-130 gunship earlier this week and were uncertain whether the intended
target was killed.
One official suggested that early indications showed that no high-value
target was killed or captured.
At the Defense Department, spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to confirm any
new strike but said in general that the United States is "going to go after
al-Qaida in the global war on terrorism wherever it takes us."
He said the nature of some military operations, especially those by special
operations commando forces, requires that they be kept secret in order to
preserve an advantage in future missions.
Lt. Cmdr. Marc Boyd, a spokesman at U.S. Special Operations Command in
Tampa, declined to comment.
A variety of U.S. special operations have operated in the Horn of Africa
from a base in Djibouti, a small country sandwiched between Somalia and
Ethiopia.
The U.S. Navy also has had forces in waters off the Somali coast, where they
have monitored maritime traffic, boarded suspicious ships and interrogated
crews in an attempt to catch anyone escaping the Somalia military
operations.
Navy officials said Wednesday that no aircraft from the USS Dwight D.
Eisenhower, stationed off the Somali coast, were involved in the latest
strike.
Earlier this month, Ethiopian and U.S. forces were pursuing three top
al-Qaida suspects but failed to capture or kill them in an AC-130 strike in
the southern part of Somalia. A main target that time was Fazul Abdullah
Mohammed, one of the three senior al-Qaida members blamed for the 1998
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The latest operation came as Ethiopia began withdrawing troops that invaded
Somalia last month to help Somalia's government drive out a radical Islamic
militia that officials say has been harboring al-Qaida operatives.
In Mogadishu on Wednesday, gunmen launched several mortars at the capital's
international airport, killing at least two people and wounding several
others, witnesses said.
Abdilkabir Salad, who was at the gate of the airport when the mortars fell,
said he saw two corpses. Another witness, Abdi Mohamed, said he saw three
young men who were injured by shrapnel.
"Two mortars landed inside the airport and the other outside," said Mohamed.
The attack comes one day after Ethiopian troops, whose military strength was
crucial to helping Somalia's government drive out a radical Islamic militia,
began withdrawing. The pullout leaves the fledgling government to stand on
its own for the first time in this notoriously violent capital.
The intervention of Ethiopia last month prompted a military advance that was
a stunning turnaround for Somalia's two-year-old government. Without
Ethiopia's tanks and fighter jets, the administration could barely assert
control outside one town and could not enter the capital, which was ruled by
the Council of Islamic Courts.
U.S. Launches New Airstrike in Somalia
NewsMax.com Wires Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The United States launched an airstrike in Somalia against
suspected terrorist targets - the second such attack this month, defense
officials said Wednesday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the action was
carried out in secret, provided few details about the strike by an Air Force
AC-130 gunship earlier this week and were uncertain whether the intended
target was killed.
One official suggested that early indications showed that no high-value
target was killed or captured.
At the Defense Department, spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to confirm any
new strike but said in general that the United States is "going to go after
al-Qaida in the global war on terrorism wherever it takes us."
He said the nature of some military operations, especially those by special
operations commando forces, requires that they be kept secret in order to
preserve an advantage in future missions.
Lt. Cmdr. Marc Boyd, a spokesman at U.S. Special Operations Command in
Tampa, declined to comment.
A variety of U.S. special operations have operated in the Horn of Africa
from a base in Djibouti, a small country sandwiched between Somalia and
Ethiopia.
The U.S. Navy also has had forces in waters off the Somali coast, where they
have monitored maritime traffic, boarded suspicious ships and interrogated
crews in an attempt to catch anyone escaping the Somalia military
operations.
Navy officials said Wednesday that no aircraft from the USS Dwight D.
Eisenhower, stationed off the Somali coast, were involved in the latest
strike.
Earlier this month, Ethiopian and U.S. forces were pursuing three top
al-Qaida suspects but failed to capture or kill them in an AC-130 strike in
the southern part of Somalia. A main target that time was Fazul Abdullah
Mohammed, one of the three senior al-Qaida members blamed for the 1998
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The latest operation came as Ethiopia began withdrawing troops that invaded
Somalia last month to help Somalia's government drive out a radical Islamic
militia that officials say has been harboring al-Qaida operatives.
In Mogadishu on Wednesday, gunmen launched several mortars at the capital's
international airport, killing at least two people and wounding several
others, witnesses said.
Abdilkabir Salad, who was at the gate of the airport when the mortars fell,
said he saw two corpses. Another witness, Abdi Mohamed, said he saw three
young men who were injured by shrapnel.
"Two mortars landed inside the airport and the other outside," said Mohamed.
The attack comes one day after Ethiopian troops, whose military strength was
crucial to helping Somalia's government drive out a radical Islamic militia,
began withdrawing. The pullout leaves the fledgling government to stand on
its own for the first time in this notoriously violent capital.
The intervention of Ethiopia last month prompted a military advance that was
a stunning turnaround for Somalia's two-year-old government. Without
Ethiopia's tanks and fighter jets, the administration could barely assert
control outside one town and could not enter the capital, which was ruled by
the Council of Islamic Courts.
