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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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January 24th,
2007 - U.S. Forces Launch Another Air Strike in Somalia |
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U.S. Forces Launch Another Air
Strike Against ‘Terrorist Targets’ in Somalia Robert Burns Associated Press January 24, 2007 Mogadishu, Somalia - Gunmen
launched mortars Wednesday on Mogadishu International Airport, killing at
least two people, just one day after troops from neighbouring Ethiopia began
withdrawing from this chaotic nation. Also Wednesday, U.S. defence
officials said the United States launched an air strike earlier this week in
Somalia against suspected terrorist targets - the second such attack this
month. The officials, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because the strike was carried out in secret by an Air
Force AC-130 gunship earlier this week, provided few details and were
uncertain whether the intended target was killed. Wednesday's mortar attack in
Mogadishu came as Ethiopian troops began pulling out after helping the Somali
government drive a radical Islamic militia out of the capital and much of
southern Somalia. Ethiopia's intervention last month prompted a military
advance that was a stunning turnaround for Somalia's two-year-old government. Without Ethiopia's tanks and
fighter jets, the administration could barely assert control outside one town
and couldn't enter the capital, which was ruled by the Council of Islamic
Courts. The U.S. accused the group of having ties to al-Qaida. Abdilkabir Salad, who was at
the gate of the airport when the mortars fell, said he saw two corpses.
Another witness, Abdi Mohamed, said he saw three injured young men who had
been hit with shrapnel. "Two mortars landed
inside the airport and the other outside," Mohamed said. "There
were three planes on the runway when the attack happened." The runway
was not damaged. The U.S. Ambassador to
Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, who also represents U.S. interests in Somalia,
met Wednesday with a top leader of the ousted Islamic movement in Kenya's
capital, Nairobi, according to an embassy official who refused to elaborate. Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed,
considered by American officials a moderate who could contribute to
rebuilding Somalia, turned himself in to authorities in Kenya because he
apparently was afraid for his life. He is not believed to be wanted by the
authorities. Ethiopian Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi, when asked whether he believed Ahmed should be part of the
peace process, said: "As far as I know, Sheik Sharif doesn't represent
anybody." At the U.S. Defence
Department, spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to confirm any new strike but
said in general that the United States is "going to go after al-Qaida in
the global war on terrorism wherever it takes us." Earlier this month,
Ethiopian and U.S. forces were pursuing three top al-Qaida suspects but
failed to capture or kill them in an AC-130 strike in the southern part of
Somalia. A main target that time was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, one of three
senior al-Qaida members blamed for the'98 bombings of the U.S. embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania. The U.S. navy also has had
forces in waters off the Somali coast, where they have monitored maritime
traffic, boarded suspicious ships and interrogated crews in an attempt to
catch anyone escaping the Somalia military operations. Navy officials said
Wednesday that no aircraft from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, stationed off
the Somali coast, were involved in the latest strike. The withdrawal of Ethiopia,
which says it cannot afford to stay in Somalia, raises a sense of urgency for
the arrival of a proposed African peacekeeping force. The African Union has
approved a plan to send about 8,000 peacekeepers for a six-month mission that
would eventually be taken over by the UN. Malawi and Uganda have said
they want to contribute troops, but no firm plans are in place. © 2007 Winnipeg Free Press.
All Rights Reserved. External link: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/world/story/3854181p-4459476c.html |