WASHINGTON – A United States military plane attacked senior al-Qaeda officials in Somalia Monday night. The attack's main target was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a senior commander in the organization's East African branch. Mohammed is wanted by the FBI for his suspected involvement in US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, in which 241 people were killed.
Other targets of the attack were terrorists suspected of involvement in the "Paradise Hotel" bombing in Mombasa on 28 November 2002. Fifteen people were killed in the attack, including three Israeli's. The terrorists were also suspected of involvement in attempts to shoot down an Arkia plane later that day using two missiles.
Monday's US military attack was carried out using an AC-130 gunship. Pentagon sources told the American CBS network, which exposed the story, that many bodies could be seen on the ground following the attack, although the names of those killed were not yet known.
The gunship used in the attack took off from an air base in Djibouti and made its way to the tip of southern Somalia, which was where al-Qaeda terrorists took refuge after being chased out of their strongholds by the Ethiopian army in collaboration with US forces. Assuming the operation was successful, it would be a hard blow to al-Qaeda in East Africa.
Al-Qaeda hoped to turn Somalia into its stronghold, as it had done with Afghanistan for several years. The US considers removing Muslim rebels from Somalia an important step in fighting world terror.
Let’ call this Vultures Down.
1 comment:
Looks to me like the Ethiopians did the dirty work, and Uncle Sam moved in to mop up.
Good call to both militaries. It's more proof that we aren't in this alone.
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