MOGADISHU, Somalia, Jan. 9, 2007
U.S. Strikes In Somalia Reportedly Kill 31
Official Says Dead Were Civilians From Village Targeted In Hunt For Alleged Al Qaeda Suspects
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Play CBS Video Video U.S. Hits Al Qaeda In Africa CBS News has learned that a U.S. gunship conducted a strike against suspected Al Qaeda operatives in Somalia. One of the targets was the senior Al Qaeda leader in East Africa. David Martin reports.
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Video U.S. Prolongs Al Qaeda Assault A U.S. gunship blasted at a suspected hideout of Al Qaeda terrorists in Somalia. The men are suspected in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa. David Martin reports.
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(AP/U.S. Air Force)
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Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a suspected terrorist wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies Tanzania and Nairobi, is shown in a photo released by the FBI October 10, 2001 in Washington, DC. (FBI/Getty Images)
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This handout photo provided by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007, shows the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, background, steams behind the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
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Fast Facts Somalia Learn about the people, economy and history.
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Interactive Bin Laden & Al Qaeda Where al Qaeda operates, who's been caught, how they're financed and a timeline of attacks on Americans.
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Fast Facts Ethiopia Learn about the people, economy and history.
Somali Islamic extremists are accused of sheltering suspects in the 1998 embassy bombings. American officials also want to ensure the militants no longer pose a threat to Somalia's U.N.-backed transitional government.
The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has arrived off Somalia's coast and launched intelligence-gathering missions over Somalia, the U.S. military said. Three other U.S. warships were conducting anti-terror operations.
U.S. warships have been seeking to capture al Qaeda members thought to be fleeing Somalia by sea after Ethiopia's military invaded Dec. 24 in support of the interim Somali government. The offensive drove the Islamic militia out of much of southern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, and toward the Kenyan border.
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.
The gunship flew from its base in Djibouti down to the southern tip of Somalia, Martin reported, where the al Qaeda operatives had fled after being chased out of the capital of Mogadishu by Ethiopian troops backed by the United States.
President Abdullahi Yusuf, head of the U.N.-backed transitional government, told journalists in Mogadishu that the U.S. "has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania."
Other Somalis in the capital said the attacks would increase anti-American sentiment in their largely Muslim country. Many Somalis are already upset by the presence of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population.
The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday reissued a terror warning to Americans living in or visiting the Horn of Africa.
It was the first overt military action by the U.S. in Somalia since it led a U.N. force that intervened in the 1990s in an effort to fight famine. The mission led to clashes between U.N. forces and Somali warlords, including the battle, chronicled in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down," that killed 18 U.S. soldiers.
Mohamed Mahmud Burale told the AP by telephone that at least four civilians were killed Monday evening in Hayi, including his young son. His report could not be independently verified.
Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said it was not known how many people were killed, "but we understand there were a lot of casualties. Most were Islamic fighters."
Another attack by an AC-130 gunship reportedly occurred Monday afternoon on Badmadow island, in a group of six rocky islands known as Ras Kamboni — a suspected terrorist training base.
Thickets provide dense cover and the only road to the area is virtually impassable, locals said.
The U.S. military's main target on the island was thought to be Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who allegedly planned the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 225 people.
Leaders of Somalia's Islamic movement have vowed from their hideouts to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war, and al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's deputy has called on militants to carry out suicide attacks on Ethiopian troops.
In an interview published Tuesday in the French newspaper Le Monde, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that suspected terrorists from Canada, Britain, Pakistan and elsewhere were among those captured or killed during recent military operations.
Somalia has not had an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The warlords turned on each other, creating chaos in the nation of 7 million people.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that a U.N. peacekeeping force may be needed to guarantee security and stability in Somalia.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 505 CommentsA Somali lawmaker said 31 civilians, including a newlywed couple, died in Tuesday's assault by two helicopters near Afmadow, a town in a forested area close to the Kenyan border.
The war this war on terror is working,
they can shoot up a car pool on their way to soocer practice, and say they were trying to get the terrorest....
I would think after the first couple of time they
KILL THE WRONG PEOPLE
that they would not let theses CRIMINAL THUGS
continue to fight this war this way...
A Somali lawmaker said 31 civilians, including a newlywed couple, died in Tuesday's assault by two helicopters near Afmadow, a town in a forested area close to the Kenyan border.
The war this war on terror is working,
they can shoot up a car pool on their way to soocer practice, and say they were trying to get the terrorest....
I would think after the first couple of time they
KILL THE WRONG PEOPLE
that they would not let theses CRIMINAL THUGS
continue to fight this war this way...
There are no Al-Qaida in Somalia, and if there is one, Why USA waited so long to get them out of Somalia.
I am sure USA knows that there is Al-Qaida in Somalia.
If there were Al-Qaida in Somalia, We (Somalian) would be the best candidate to get them out. and we are ready to do that, but AC-130 would only destroy the homes and the life of weakest, innocent, refugees. Most casualties are domestic animals and refugees.
Thank
Safia
There are no Al-Qaida in Somalia, and if there is one, Why USA waited so long to get them out of Somalia.
I am sure USA knows that there is Al-Qaida in Somalia.
If there were Al-Qaida in Somalia, We (Somalian) would be the best candidate to get them out. and we are ready to do that, but AC-130 would only destroy the homes and the life of weakest, innocent, refugees. Most casualties are domestic animals and refugees.
Thank
Safia
1998???
Yep, Bush is making sure he is doing all he can to provoke another 9/11 so he can continue this whole fiasco, his Haliburton buddies LOVE him!
"U.S. was pursuing suspects"
SUSPECTS? so now we kill people at random we THINK might be suspects.
Why is this not surprising?
Just a reminder- there is no legal basis for the U.S. to torture, and/or summarily execute people around the globe, based on a whim, and faith-based hype.
What will be the final bill, for the Bush Butchers?
and we wonder why people hate us. murder under the guise of "democracy" or the "war on terror", isn't really murder, right?
The chances of you even meeting a 'terrorist' in your lifetime is nil, and the jury is still out on the 9/11 atrocity being planned by terrorists instead of rogue U.S. politicians.
Bu$h, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Halliburton could be the real terrorists of this planet.
40 mm cannon that fire 120 rounds per minute and
a 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon.
40 mm cannon that fire 120 rounds per minute and
a 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon.
How does the Americans kill a mosquito..??
40 mm cannon that fire 120 rounds per minute and
a 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon.
How does the Americans kill a mosquito..??
The wanton killing of the MANY INNOCENT Somalis just to ensure death of A FEW ALLEGED TERRORISTS is devilish!
The wanton killing of the MANY INNOCENT just to ensure death of A FEW ALLEGED GUILTY is devilish!
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