New US Strikes Hit Sites in Somalia: Government Source

Reuters

Wednesday 10 January 2007

Mogadishu - U.S. forces hunting al Qaeda suspects hit four locations in new air strikes in Somalia on Wednesday, a Somali government source said, as criticism mounted over Washington's military intervention.

"As we speak now, the area is being bombarded by the American air force," the source told Reuters.

He said the attacks hit an area close to Ras Kamboni, a coastal village near the Kenyan border where many fugitive Islamists are believed holed-up after being defeated by Ethiopian troops defending Somalia's interim government.

Four places were hit - Hayo, Garer, Bankajirow and Badmadowe, the source said. "Bankajirow was the last Islamist holdout. Bankajirow and Badmadowe were hit hardest," he added.

Lawmaker Abdirashid Mohamed Hidig said at least 50 people were killed in strikes he said were carried out by U.S. and Ethiopian planes.

It was unclear how either Hidig or the government source were able to distinguish between Ethiopian and U.S. aircraft.

"Yesterday I personally saw the planes striking. The air strikes resumed this morning," Hidig told reporters in the port of Kismayu after returning from a tour of the attacked areas.

"The worst loss has befallen civilians since the fleeing Islamists are hiding among the people there," he said, adding he was airlifted to the sites in an Ethiopian helicopter.

Pentagon officials confirmed one air attack on Monday, as part of a wider offensive including Ethiopian planes.

U.S. officials said the strike was aimed at an al Qaeda cell that includes suspects in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa and a 2002 attack on an Israeli-owned Kenyan hotel.

Somali officials said many died in Monday's strike - the first overt U.S. military action in Somalia since a disastrous humanitarian mission ended in 1994.

A clan elder reported a second U.S. air strike on Tuesday, but that was not confirmed by other sources.

The U.S. actions were defended by Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, but criticized by others including new U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, the European Union, and former colonial power Italy.

"The secretary-general is concerned about the new dimension this kind of action could introduce to the conflict and the possible escalation of hostilities that may result," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said Rome opposed "unilateral initiatives that could spark new tensions in an area that is already very destabilized."

Embassy Bombings

Monday's U.S. attack on a southern village by an AC-130 plane firing automatic cannon was believed to have killed one of three al Qaeda suspects wanted for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, a U.S. intelligence official said.

Washington is seeking a handful of al Qaeda members including Abu Talha al-Sudani, who U.S. intelligence believes is the network's east Africa commander.

Critics of the action say it could misfire by creating strong Somali resentment and feeding Islamist militancy.

"Before this, it was just tacit support for Ethiopia. Now the U.S. has fingerprints on the intervention and is going to be held more accountable," said Horn of Africa expert Ken Menkhaus. "This has the potential for a backlash both in Somalia and the region."

Ethiopia sent troops across the border late last month to oust Islamists who had held most of the south since June and threatened to overrun the weak government at its Baidoa base.

In the capital Mogadishu, residents were woken by gunfire before dawn on Wednesday in an area housing Ethiopian and Somali troops, who were targeted in a rocket attack on Tuesday.

One corpse lay in the street, witnesses said.

In another attack, at least one person was killed on Wednesday when Somali militiamen fired a rocket-propelled grenade at an Ethiopian truck, missing it but hitting a house, a government source said.

Quoting U.S. and French military sources, ABC News said U.S. Special Forces were working with Ethiopian troops on the ground in operations inside Somalia.

But Interior Minister Hussein Mohamed Aideed denied the report. "There are no American ground forces inside Somalia. The American involvement is limited to air and sea," he said.

President Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi have pledged to restore order in Somalia after entering the capital for the first time since they took office in 2004 at the head of an internationally-recognized interim government.

Both have called for African peacekeepers to help fill a security vacuum that is expected when Ethiopian troops pull out.

The government has called on militias to report to various police stations for recruitment in the country's security forces, a government spokesman said.