BBC: US 'targets al-Qaeda' in Somalia ~ based on "credible intelligence" says Pentagon...

BBC ^ | Tuesday, 9 January 2007, 18:57 GMT | BBC Staff

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

US 'targets al-Qaeda' in Somalia

The US used AC-130 gunship in raids over Somalia

US air strikes in Somalia are aimed at al-Qaeda leaders in the region, and based on "credible intelligence", a Pentagon spokesman has said.

In its first official comment on the air strikes, the Pentagon said a raid was carried out on Sunday but declined to say if it had hit its target.

The US has long said al-Qaeda suspects linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa took refuge in Somalia.

At least 19 people were killed in US air raids, local Somali elders say.

Fresh air raids were reported near the town of Afmadow on Monday and Tuesday, but it is not clear if these were carried out by the US, or by Ethiopian forces which back the transitional Somali government.

Location of militias and US Navy patrols

The air strikes are taking place days after the Union of Islamic Courts, which had taken control of much of central and southern Somalia during the past six months, was routed by soldiers from Ethiopia and Somalia's government.

Latest reports from Mogadishu say unknown assailants have fired rocket propelled grenades at a building housing Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces.

Two explosions were heard, followed by a brief but heavy exchange of automatic gunfire.

'No safe haven'

The US air strikes were carried out by an Air Force AC-130, a heavily armed gunship that has detection equipment and can work under the cover of darkness.

The US has a right to bombard terrorist suspects who attacked its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania Somali interim president Abdullahi Yusuf Twin US aims in Somalia Fact file: AC-130 gunship

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the US action was a reminder that there was no safe haven for Islamic militants.

"This administration continues to go after al-Qaeda," he said.

"We are interested in going after those who have perpetrated acts of violence against Americans, including bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania."

Somalia's interim President, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, said the US had the right to bomb those who had attacked its embassies.

But Italy - the former colonial power in central and southern Somalia - condemned the US strikes.

Italian Foreign minister Massimo d'Alema said Rome opposed "unilateral initiatives that could spark new tensions".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "concern" that the air strikes could lead to an escalation of hostilities.

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Twin US aims in Somalia

By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

One of the targeted suspects has been indicted in the US

By attacking Islamist fighters in Somalia the United States is trying to achieve two objectives.

It wants to intervene decisively on the side of the transitional government now back in Mogadishu and to get at three al-Qaeda suspects linked to bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel and airliner in Kenya in 2002.

The air strikes were carried out by a huge AC-130 gunship in the south of the country where supporters of the Union of Islamic Courts have retreated under attack from the Ethiopian army and soldiers of the transitional government.

US aircraft have carried out reconnaissance flights over Somalia and it is believed that the US provided Ethiopian forces with intelligence support during the recent offensive.

At the same time, US warships have been patrolling the Somali coast to prevent any escape by sea.

US aim

The strategy is to ensure that the Islamist fighters do not regroup and pose a threat to the government.

Only last week a statement believed to be from al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri urged Muslims to "rise up to aid their Muslim brethren in Somalia".

The Americans and their Somali and Ethiopian allies therefore feared a guerrilla war that might threaten efforts to establish the new government. They are determined to stop the Islamic Courts from resuming power.

The American action was not a random affair but intended to minimise the likelihood of an Islamic insurgency developing Sally Healy Chatham House analyst

At the same time, there was a more specific American aim behind the attack.

From their special forces base in nearby Djibouti, the US has been watching three al-Qaeda suspects in particular who took refuge in Somalia. It seems that they were among the targets of this operation.

The three are Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Talha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, from the Comoro Islands, was indicted by a US court in New York for conspiracy to bomb the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

Abu Talha al-Sudani, a Sudanese, was accused by the office of the US Director of National Intelligence recently of leading an al-Qaeda cell in East Africa.

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan, is on an FBI wanted poster in connection with the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel and an attempted missile attack on an Israeli airliner in Kenya in 2002.

The US sees the break-up of the Union of Islamic Courts as a good opportunity to try to remove what it regards as a serious threat from al-Qaeda in the region.

Diplomatic front

As well as intervening on the battlefield, the US and other governments are acting to shore up the government of President Abdullahi Yusuf by encouraging the formation of an African Union force to act as peacekeepers.

The Security Council gave its approval for such a force in resolution 1725 in December. That was before the Ethiopian offensive but the authority can now be acted on.

Al-Qaeda's number two allegedly urged Muslims to fight in Somalia

"The work for the transitional government has only just begun," says Sally Healy, Horn of Africa watcher at Chatham House in London.

"It is not clear if they will establish themselves and we might even see a return to the warlords. Ethiopia might have to stay there longer than it really wants because the government is so weak.

"There is a lot of international willingness to support the transitional federal government [TFG] but the issue is when this can become a real government. An AU force is already backed by the UN but it takes time to get one organised. So the TFG needs a deal with local clans and efforts to this end are being led by the Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi who is from the south, unlike President Yusuf.

"The American action was not a random affair but intended to minimise the likelihood of an Islamic insurgency developing."

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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Pentagon quotes.....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Fact file: AC-130 gunship

The AC-130 gunship is designed for precise attacks in urban areas while providing close support for ground forces, but it has been used in Afghanistan to aid special forces operations.

It is a version of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft and flies at less than 300mph (482 kph). But it can loiter over a combat area for some time without needing to refuel.

The latest model, known as Spooky II, has three large guns projecting from the left side of the fuselage: a 25mm Gatling gun that can fire up to 1,800 rounds per minute, and 40mm and 105mm cannons.

Technical specifications
Click here for details

The aircraft uses video images, infra-red and radar sensors to locate targets at day and night. Its computers are designed to follow two targets with two different sensors and fire two different guns at the same time.

Former crew members say that, in practice, the guns are never fired simultaneously, partly because of ammunition considerations.

Losses

The aircraft has more than a dozen crew: Pilot, co-pilot, navigator, fire control officer, electronic warfare officer, flight engineer, operators for its TV camera and infra-red detection set, a loadmaster, and four or five "gunners" - who reload the weapons which are normally controlled from the flight deck.

Although regarded as a highly successful machine - used most recently in support of operations in Panama, Grenada, the Gulf War, Bosnia and Afghanistan - its slowness and typical low operating altitude make it vulnerable to ground fire.

It does have a system that drops chaff and flares to counter radar and infra-red guided missiles. There are also heat shields under the engines to try to mask them from heat-seeking missiles.

Even so, one AC-130 was shot down in Iraq in 1991 by a surface-to-air missile. The other recent loss was in Somalia when, it is thought, a round exploded in one of the plane's cannons.

There are over 20 types of AC-130 on "active duty", according to the US Air Force.

AC-130 U Spooky
Crew:	Up to 13
Main weapons:	1x 25mm GAU-12 Gatling gun, 1x L60 40mm Bofors cannon, 1x M102 105mm cannon
Max speed:	300 mph (482 kph)
Length:	97 ft, 9 inches (29.8 m)
Wingspan:	132 ft, 7 inches (40.4 m)
Weight:	155,000 pounds (69,750 kgs)
Range:	2500 miles (4,000 kms)

Source: USAF

[Brilliant]

"Al-Qaeda's number two allegedly urged Muslims to fight in Somalia"




"Number Two" is a good name for him alright.

[Cicero]

It seems as if BBC is more interested in the Somalian situation than the American press.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

There are over 20 types of AC-130 on "active duty", according to the US Air Force.

Well now that is just excellent....let's build some more!!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The press is the propaganda arm of the American left and they have an agenda...see this:

Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left

[processing please hold]

Kill 'em, kill 'em all.

[Brilliant]

I'm trying to remember if the Europeans were so critical of Clinton when he bombed an aspirin factory in the Sudan.

Certainly, they did not criticize him when he bombed Czechoslavakia.

[Cicero]

Yes, evidently the current position is to cover it up and pretend it isn't happening, until they decide how to handle it.

Still, it's a bit surprising we aren't getting news reports about dead children.

[Marine_Uncle]

Nice set of specs on the gunship. A real hell on wings to say the least. Surely Spooky II can shake and bake with the best of em. Go get em air tigers!

[Sax]

AC130 video of the aircraft and crew issuing invitations to the dirt nap party.

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?p=AC130&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&b=0&oid=d346ed719a265560&rurl=www.militaryimages.net&vdone=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fvideo%3Fp%3DAC130%26toggle%3D1%26cop%3Dmss%26ei%3DUTF-8

[SGCOS]

No info on if they were taunted before being blown up.

Whew! I think we may have gotten lucky on that issue.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Euroweenies are already working on that!

SOMALIA: EUROPEAN UNION CRITICISM OF U.S. RAID ON SOUTH (against al-Qaeda militants in Somalia)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

....let's build some more!!!

So many targets, so few AC130's. Might I suggest a surgical strike on W. 43rd Street? Target rich environment for terrorist sympathizers.

[MARKUSPRIME]

Read the have your say comments from the euros. These people hate us,and are morons.

[longtermmemmory]

Democrats are DEEPLY saddened because dead enemies can't tell lies about the USA.

[beckaz]

US 'targets al-Qaeda' in Somalia ~ based on "credible intelligence" says Pentagon...

Nor sure if its the Beeb or the Pentagon, but in the aftermath of action, shouldn't it be obvious that the intelligence was credible???

Or is this more of Tenet's CIA legacy that we now have to be somewhat redundant.

[BurbankKarl]

"In fact, according to Saudi daily Al Watan, US Special forces based in Djibouti have been instructed to look for Al Qaeda terrorists in the south of Somalia."