SOMALIA NOW!!!
MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, CANADIAN PRESS
Published: Tuesday, January 09, 2007
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Two U.S. air strikes in Somalia killed large numbers of Islamic extremists, government officials and witnesses said Tuesday. THE TARGETS WERE SUSPECTS IN THE BOMBINGS OF TWO U.S. EMBASSIES IN EAST AFRICA IN 1998.
The attacks, by an AC-130 gunship, 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 250 kilometres north were hit.
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-Qaida 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 United States 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 neighbouring Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population and has fought two brutal wars with Somalia, most recently in 1977.
Ethiopian forces had invaded Somalia to prevent an Islamic movement from 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 harbouring 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.
PRESIDENT YUSUF SAID THE LEADERS OF THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT "WOULD NOT BE FORGIVEN" AND THAT TALKS BETWEEN THE TWO RIVAL SIDES WERE NOT AN OPTION.
One U.S. attack took place on Monday afternoon on Badmadow island. The area is known as Ras Kamboni and Is Suspected To Be A Terror Training Base. Ethiopian and Somali troops had over the last days cornered the main Islamic force in Ras Kamboni, with U.S. warships patrolling off shore and the Kenyan military guarding the border to watch for fleeing militants.
Witnesses said at least four civilians were killed in another attack 50 kilometres east of Afmadow town, including a small boy. The claims could not be independently verified.
“My 4-year-old boy was killed in the strike," Mohamed Mahmud Burale told the AP by telephone. "We also heard 14 massive explosions."
The AC-130, a four engine turboprop-driven aircraft, is armed with 40 mm cannon that fire 120 rounds per minute and a 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon. The plane's latest version, the AC-130U, known as "Spooky," also carries Gatling gun-type 20 mm cannon. The gunships were designed primarily for battlefield use to place saturated fire on massed troops.
"We don't know how many people were killed in the attack but we understand there were a lot of casualties," government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said. "Most were Islamic fighters."
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, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, escaped to Ras Kamboni, according to testimony from one of the convicted bombers.
Mohammed is believed to be the leader of the al-Qaida East Africa cell.
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.
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 SEVEN MILLION PEOPLE INTO CHAOS.
AT LEAST 13 ATTEMPTS AT GOVERNMENT HAVE FAILED SINCE THEN. THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2004 WITH UN BACKING.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday that a UN peacekeeping force may be needed to guarantee security and stability in Somalia. He said Ugandan forces may be the first deployed to replace Ethiopian troops.
Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa, said Sunday that the United States would use its diplomatic and financial resources to support the government. The U.S. has pledged US$40 million in political, humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance.
The African Union has begun planning for a peacekeeping force, and Uganda has promised at least 1,000 soldiers. Frazer has said she hopes the first troops will begin arriving in Mogadishu before the end of the month.
© The Canadian Press 2007
'Many dead' after US strike on Somalia
Iraqi Qaeda allies urge backing for Somali Islamists
"In this great showdown, the Islamic State in Iraq calls on all Muslims to stand with their brothers in Somalia and support them with money, arms and men and to pray for their victory over the enemy," the so-called Islamic State in Iraq said in a statement dated Dec. 27 posted on the Internet.
U.S. airstrikes target al-Qaida in Somalia
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.
MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, CANADIAN PRESS
Published: Tuesday, January 09, 2007
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Two U.S. air strikes in Somalia killed large numbers of Islamic extremists, government officials and witnesses said Tuesday. THE TARGETS WERE SUSPECTS IN THE BOMBINGS OF TWO U.S. EMBASSIES IN EAST AFRICA IN 1998.
The attacks, by an AC-130 gunship, 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 250 kilometres north were hit.
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-Qaida 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 United States 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 neighbouring Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population and has fought two brutal wars with Somalia, most recently in 1977.
Ethiopian forces had invaded Somalia to prevent an Islamic movement from 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 harbouring 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.
PRESIDENT YUSUF SAID THE LEADERS OF THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT "WOULD NOT BE FORGIVEN" AND THAT TALKS BETWEEN THE TWO RIVAL SIDES WERE NOT AN OPTION.
One U.S. attack took place on Monday afternoon on Badmadow island. The area is known as Ras Kamboni and Is Suspected To Be A Terror Training Base. Ethiopian and Somali troops had over the last days cornered the main Islamic force in Ras Kamboni, with U.S. warships patrolling off shore and the Kenyan military guarding the border to watch for fleeing militants.
Witnesses said at least four civilians were killed in another attack 50 kilometres east of Afmadow town, including a small boy. The claims could not be independently verified.
“My 4-year-old boy was killed in the strike," Mohamed Mahmud Burale told the AP by telephone. "We also heard 14 massive explosions."
The AC-130, a four engine turboprop-driven aircraft, is armed with 40 mm cannon that fire 120 rounds per minute and a 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon. The plane's latest version, the AC-130U, known as "Spooky," also carries Gatling gun-type 20 mm cannon. The gunships were designed primarily for battlefield use to place saturated fire on massed troops.
"We don't know how many people were killed in the attack but we understand there were a lot of casualties," government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said. "Most were Islamic fighters."
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, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, escaped to Ras Kamboni, according to testimony from one of the convicted bombers.
Mohammed is believed to be the leader of the al-Qaida East Africa cell.
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.
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 SEVEN MILLION PEOPLE INTO CHAOS.
AT LEAST 13 ATTEMPTS AT GOVERNMENT HAVE FAILED SINCE THEN. THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 2004 WITH UN BACKING.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday that a UN peacekeeping force may be needed to guarantee security and stability in Somalia. He said Ugandan forces may be the first deployed to replace Ethiopian troops.
Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa, said Sunday that the United States would use its diplomatic and financial resources to support the government. The U.S. has pledged US$40 million in political, humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance.
The African Union has begun planning for a peacekeeping force, and Uganda has promised at least 1,000 soldiers. Frazer has said she hopes the first troops will begin arriving in Mogadishu before the end of the month.
© The Canadian Press 2007
'Many dead' after US strike on Somalia
Iraqi Qaeda allies urge backing for Somali Islamists
"In this great showdown, the Islamic State in Iraq calls on all Muslims to stand with their brothers in Somalia and support them with money, arms and men and to pray for their victory over the enemy," the so-called Islamic State in Iraq said in a statement dated Dec. 27 posted on the Internet.
U.S. airstrikes target al-Qaida in Somalia
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
Target of U.S. strike wanted for multiple attacks
NAIROBI, Kenya - Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the main target of the U.S. military action Monday in Somalia, is master of disguises who speaks several languages and likes to wear baseball caps.
One of the FBI’s most wanted, he has a $5 million price on his head for allegedly planning the 1998 attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which killed 225 people.
• U.S. airstrikes target al-Qaida in Somalia
By Andrew England in Cairo
Updated: 23 minutes ago
A US aircraft launched an attack in southern Somalia against suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, killing many people, Somali officials said on Tuesday.
US military officials refused to comment on the air-strikes, which reportedly involved an AC-130 gunship and took place in an area known as Ros Kamboni.
US officials have previously told the Financial Times that they deem it their right to pursue terrorists wherever they are.
The attack came 16 days after Ethiopian troops led an offensive against a rival Somali Islamist movement, which both Addis Ababa and Washington accused of harbouring and including al-Qaeda suspects.
The US says three suspects believed to be involved in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, as well as a 2002 attack on an Israeli-owned hotel on the Kenyan coast and a simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli charter aircraft, have been hiding out in Somalia.
It says they include Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Comorian who is on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list and is believed to be the leader of an East African terrorist cell. The other two are a Kenyan and a Sudanese national.
It was not clear whether any of the suspects had been killed or wounded in the attack.
"The US has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania," Abdullahi Yusuf, Somalia's interim president said after the attack, which would be the first known direct US military involvement in Somalia since its failed intervention in the Horn of Africa nation in the 1990s.
The US Central Command said on Tuesday it was deploying an aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, off the Somali coast. The carrier includes F/A 18 Hornets or Super Hornets jets and E-2C Hawkeyes, reconnaissance aircraft, and it was the first time such a vessel had been deployed off Somalia in "recent memory" a US navy spokesman said.
Other US ships have been patrolling Somalia's coastline, one of Africa's longest, to prevent Islamists fleeing by sea.
Washington was thought to have given Addis Ababa tacit support for its offensive against the Somali Islamists.
The Islamist movement, which was an alliance of Islamic courts, had controlled much of southern Somalia before the offensive. But faced with Ethiopian tanks and aircraft, it retreated from all its strongholds and its fighters fled south towards the Kenyan border.
The movement, which came to prominence after seizing control of Mogadishu, the Somali capital, from an alliance of US-backed warlords in June, was not a monolithic group and included hardliners and conservatives. Islamist leaders repeatedly denied any links to al-Qaeda and terrorism.
In spite of their rapid defeat they have insisted they will continue to fight, fuelling concerns that Ethiopian troops could be sucked into a guerrilla war.
Efforts are underway to put together an African-led peace keeping force to bolster the weak Ethiopian-backed Somali transitional government. On Monday, Mr Yusuf entered Mogadishu for the first time in years.
However, his government, which has been plagued by divisions and includes warlords, has little popular support and is dependent on Ethiopia's troops for security. Before the Ethiopian offensive, its area of control was restricted to the small, central town of Baidao.
The movement, which came to prominence after seizing control of Mogadishu, the Somali capital, from an alliance of US-backed warlords in June, was not a monolithic group and included hardliners and conservatives. Islamist leaders repeatedly denied any links to al-Qaeda and terrorism.
In spite of their rapid defeat they have insisted they will continue to fight, fuelling concerns that Ethiopian troops could be sucked into a guerrilla war.
Efforts are underway to put together an African-led peace keeping force to bolster the weak Ethiopian-backed Somali transitional government. On Monday, Mr Yusuf entered Mogadishu for the first time in years.
However, his government, which has been plagued by divisions and includes warlords, has little popular support and is dependent on Ethiopia's troops for security. Before the Ethiopian offensive, its area of control was restricted to the small, central town of Baidao.
Somalia, a Muslim nation, has not had an effective central government since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and has been plagued by warlordism and clan-based violence.
The lawlessness and the country's proximity to the Middle East caused US officials to describe Somalia as a potential haven for terrorists after the September 11 attacks.
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