US airstrike 'kill' Islamists
2007-01-09 11:48
Mogadishu - A United States airstrike in Somalia that targeted an al-Qaeda cell wanted for two 1998 US embassy bombings killed large numbers of Islamic extremists, said government officials on Tuesday.
The officials said the attacks, by a heavily armed 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.
It was the first overt military action by the US in Somalia since the 1990s and the legacy of a botched intervention - known as "Black Hawk Down" - that left 18 American servicemen dead.
Deputy prime minister Hussein Aideed said: "The US was trying to kill the al-Qaeda terrorists who carried out the bomb attacks on their embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. They have our full support for the attacks."
US sends air carrier to Somalia
The US airstrike came 16 days after Ethiopia forces invaded Somalia to prevent an Islamic movement ousting the weak, internationally recognised government from its lone stronghold in the west of the country.
America and Ethiopia both accused the Islamic group of harbouring extremists, among them al-Qaeda suspects.
Ethiopian troops, tanks and warplanes took just 10 days to drive the Islamic group from the capital, Mogadishu, and other key towns.
Meanwhile, the US military said on Tuesday that it had sent an aircraft carrier to join three other American warships conducting anti-terror operations off the Somali coast.
US warships had been seeking to capture al-Qaeda members thought to be fleeing Somalia in the wake of Ethiopia's December 24 invasion.
The US attacks took place on Monday afternoon on Badmadow island. The area was known as Ras Kamboni and was suspected to be a terror-training base.
Most Islamic fighters 'killed'
A government spokesperson Abdirahman Dinari said: "The strike was carried out after it had been confirmed that al-Qaeda members are hiding there in the area.
"We don't know how many people were killed in the attack, but we understand there were a lot of casualties. Most were Islamic fighters."
Witnesses said that at least four civilians were killed in the attack, including a small boy. The claims could not be independently verified.
Mohamed Mahmud Burale said: "My four-year-old boy was killed in the strike. The plane was firing at other areas in Ras Kamboni. We could see smoke from the area. We also heard 14 massive explosions."
After two days of fierce fighting, Ethiopian and Somali forces said they were on the verge of capturing Ras Kamboni, where they said the Islamic movement was cornered.
US officials said after the September 11 attacks that extremists with ties to al-Qaeda operated a training camp at Ras Kamboni and al-Qaeda members were believed to have visited it.
According to one of the convicted bombers, the alleged mastermind of the embassy bombings in East Africa, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, escaped to Ras Kamboni.
- AP