Posted on 01/04/2007 5:51:57 PM PST by blam
US hunts al-Qa'eda suspects fleeing Somalia
By Mike Pflanz, East Africa Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:54am GMT 05/01/2007
US Navy warships stepped up patrols off Somalia yesterday, boarding fishing boats and oil tankers to search for al-Qa'eda agents who fled after their Islamic allies were chased into hiding.
At the same time, Washington's chief Africa diplomat, Jendayi Frazer, met Ethiopia's prime minister for the first time since Ethiopian troops led the advance that crushed the Islamic Courts Union that had ruled much of Somalia until a few weeks ago. She hoped that peacekeepers drawn from African nations would be deployed in Somalia "by the end of January".
The US has played a key role behind the scenes. Analysts said this helped the sudden, almost complete rout of the Islamic forces. Their leaders are being hunted near Somalia's border with Kenya, but aid agencies have complained that closing the border leaves 1.8 million Somalis without access to assistance.
Offshore, the USS Ramage, a guided missile destroyer, and the USS Bunker Hill, both from the American Fifth Fleet, were among several vessels sent from the British-led Combined Task Force 150, based in Bahrain, to waters off Somalia.
Cdre Bruce Williams, the task force's Royal Navy commander, said: "Coalition forces will continue routine operations in this unstable area as long as the need exists for our presence."
No British ships are involved, according to the Ministry of Defence.
Security sources in Nairobi said intelligence from US spy satellites had been passed to Ethiopian defence forces ahead of an attack on Tuesday on a convoy in southern Somalia, which was said to include the ICU's leaders.
Four Ethiopian helicopters dropped six bombs on the position, Kenyan police said, but failed to destroy the convoy. The US defence department refused to comment on "intelligence specifics".
Yesterday, Ms Frazer, Washington's under-secretary of state for Africa, said US intelligence believed that the Islamist leaders had been hiding in Mogadishu, but might have fled and their whereabouts were unknown.
"All of us in the international community were quite surprised how fast the [Islamic movement] melted away and lost support," she said.
cool
Bush's WOT continues apace!
Good. "Keep up the Skeer"
Flush em out!
Those big bad brave Islamists are sure good at fleeing (and surrendering to TV news crews like they did in "Desert Storm").
No worries. Any that they miss will be in Minneapolis by February.
Send them toward the cab-drivers at the Minneapolis airport.
Wait a minute! Did the Security Council give Ethiopia permission to invade Somalia? Did they approve of the US boarding fishing boats to search for El Qaeda? Well, then, it's illegal and George Bush is a poopy pants. So there.
No British ships are involved, according to the Ministry of Defence.
So now we outsource military leadership?
Better yet, did the security council raise bloody hell when the filthy jihadi goat f*****s were taking over mogadishu?
That's funny. More than a few Freepers said the U.S. could learn a lesson form this.
Yup. I saw it...a lot of 'shooting-from-the-hip' on this one.
No. The "American Fifth Fleet" is led by Americans, and is also part of a joint task force with our ally, Great Britain.
Wonder why we're not hearing about this from the highest rooftops from the Presstitutes??? < / sarc
I guess the same reason its we NEVER EVER get the stories of the heroic deeds done each and every day by our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
My "domestic" goal in life is to bring the lying leftist media to its knees.
The brave Sailors of the US Navy don't get the credit like the Army and Marines. There is plenty going on around the world that we may not ever know about. If one of these swabbies is accused of rape or murder we will sure know about it! I hate the media.
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