Barack Obama Ordered Death of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan

MOMBASA, KENYA — The mother of a top al-Qaida fugitive who was killed in a U.S. raid in Somalia demanded Wednesday to see her son's body while a Somalia-based group claimed him as their leader and confirmed his death.

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a 30-year-old Kenyan, was wanted for the 2002 car bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and a failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner. Three senior U.S. officials familiar with Monday's commando raid confirmed he was killed.

Aisha Abdallah told The Associated Press she wants "to see the body of my son before it is buried."

"My son has never been a terrorist," said Abdallah, dressed in an orange and black headscarf in her modest, four-room apartment in this steamy coastal city.

A statement posted on an Islamic Web site Wednesday from the al-Shabab Mujahideen Movement confirmed Nabhan's death and the death of an unspecified number of other militants. U.S. officials said six people were killed in the strike by elite U.S. forces.

The authenticity of the statement could not be verified, but it was posted on an Islamic Web site that regularly carries statements from al-Qaida and other militant groups.

The Somalia-based insurgent group vowed to avenge Nabhan's death and said they would keep fighting.

"God foiled the endeavor of our stupid enemy who imagined that the flame of jihad in the Muslim lands ... will be extinguished with the killing of the mujahideen leaders," the statement read.....

....... Three senior U.S. officials familiar with the operation said Nabhan was killed.

A fourth official said the attack was launched by forces from multiple U.S. military branches and included Navy SEALs, at least two Army assault helicopters and the involvement of two U.S. warships in the region for months.

All the U.S. officials were hesitant to provide details and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the secretive commando operation.

U.S. officials have become increasingly concerned that al-Qaida insurgents are moving out of safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into anarchic Somalia, where they can mobilize recruits without interference.

The Rest @ The Associated Press
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Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, and Pauline Jelinek and Lolita Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/world/ap/59454487.html#ixzz101SAwlZc


The Rest about The Barawee raid, code named Operation Celestial Balance

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan is believed dead following a raid by JSOC forces (U.S. Army Special Forces) including U.S. Navy Seals in four helicopters (including at least two AH-6s)[12] on Monday September 14, 2009.[13]

Nabhan was driving south of the capital Mogadishu near Baraawe in a two vehicle convoy when attacked by the little bird assault helicopters.[14]

The raid, code-named Operation Celestial Balance,[12] took place around 1:00 pm local time, with the helicopters arriving from a ship offshore, firing on the vehicles, and landing briefly to take bodies.[15]

President Barack Obama is reported to have signed an "Execute Order" for the operation ten days before the attack was launched.[12] Members of Al-Shabaab were also killed.[16] JSOC and the CIA had been trying to kill Nabhan for some time; an AC-130 Gunship was called in during a January 2007 attempt. An American intelligence source stated that CIA paramilitary teams from Special Activities Division were directly embedded with Ethiopian forces in Somalia, allowing for the tactical intelligence to launch these operations. [17]

On February 14, 2010, MSNBC reported that three alternatives were presented to President Barack Obama[18]:
(1) assassination via a missile attack from a drone, or other airplane;
(2) assassination by fire from helicopters, which could then land for DNA samples, to confirm his identity; and
(3) live capture.

MSNBC suggested that this killing represents a trend, since remote targeting continues to be more reliable -- while locations where captives can be detained without complications have dwindled

Al Sabaab is Al Qaeda - Old but Reaffirmed News

This is not new news, but when one understands how Al Qaeda works, especially in Africa. Understand this:

There is no quibbling about the FACT that al Qaeda conducted the World Cup suicide bombings.

Al Shabaab IS al Qaeda in East Africa. Though al Shabaab leadership has a wide latitude of independant action, they are as much al Qaeda as any group outside Pakistan. Al Shabaab counts on al qaeda endorsment to get funding and the foreign fighter recruits which now make up the majority of its force.

Al Shabaab must replace Somali fighters because Somalia al Shabaab fighters s are largely fighting for Somalia, for "freedom" from the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

Al Shabaab is fighting to lead an Islamist revolution, starting in Somalia and spreading West until "all Africa becomes part of the next caliphate." There are Islamists not publicly carrying out Jihad.

Al Qaeda resources are directing foreign fighter recruits toward Somalia.

- Shimron Issachar

*********
Al Qaeda's senior leadership has advised Shabaab, its affiliate in Somalia, to downplay links between the two terror groups and suggested that future attacks be directed at US interests in East Africa.

"Al Qaeda's top leadership has instructed Shabaab to maintain a low profile on al Qaeda links," a senior US intelligence official who closely follows al Qaeda and Shabaab in East Africa told The Long War Journal. The official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, said the information was passed between the top leadership of both groups.


"Al Qaeda has accepted Shabaab into the fold and, and any additional statements would only serve to draw international scrutiny," the intelligence official said. "Al Qaeda is applying lessons learned from Iraq, that an overexposure of the links between al Qaeda central leadership and its affiliates can cause some unwanted attention."


Shabaab's double suicide attack in Uganda on July 11 was well received by al Qaeda's top
leadership, who want Shabaab to continue to hitting US interests in Africa.

"Al Qaeda is pleased with the double suicide attack in Uganda, but suggested Shabaab reserve future strikes at US interests in the region," the official said.


The July 11 double suicide attack in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, killed 74 civilians as they
watched the World Cup's final soccer match. The mastermind of the Kampala attacks, Isah Ahmed Luyima, said he executed the bombings with the intent of maximizing US deaths.

"I targeted places where many Americans go," Luyima said in a press conference hosted by Ugandan police on Aug. 12. "I was made to believe that Americans were responsible for the suffering of Muslims all over the world."

The Shabaab cell that carried out the Uganda attack called itself the Saleh Ali Nabhan Brigade.
Saleh Ali Slaeh Nabhan was a top al Qaeda and Shabaab leader who has been indicted by the US for his involvement in the 1998 bombings at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Nabhan was indicted with several top al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri. Nabhan served as Shabaab's top military commander before US special operations forces killed him in a raid in southern Somalia in September 2009.


Evidence of Shabaab's attempts to minimize its regional reach could recently be seen in Somalia's north after Shabaab commander Mohammed Said Atom and Shabaab both downplayed any ties after security forces attacked terror training camps operated by Atom in the Galgala Mountains in late July.

Shabaab's links to al Qaeda

Al Qaeda has praised Shabaab and its predecessor, the Islamic Courts Union, for years prior to accepting Shabaab into the fold. For years al Qaeda has helped produced propaganda for the Islamic Courts and Shabaab and has addressed the group in its own propaganda tapes. Osama bin Laden endorsed the Islamic Courts during a speech back in 2006.

"We will continue, God willing, to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Somalia and Sudan until we waste all your money and kill your men and you will return to your country in defeat as we defeated you before in Somalia," bin Laden said. Al Qaeda leaders Ayman al Zawahiri and Abu Yahya al Libi have also directly addressed Shabaab and voiced their support for the terror group's activities.

During the summer of 2008, Shabaab sought to formally join al Qaeda. By the end of that year, al Qaeda had accepted Shabaab as its official affiliate in East Africa.

Shabaab's former spokesman and top military commander, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, admitted that many Shabaab leaders have trained with and take instruction from al Qaeda. "Most of our leaders were trained in Al Qaeda camps," Robow told The Los Angeles Times in August 2008. "We get our tactics and guidelines from them," he continued. "Many have spent time with Osama bin Laden." Other Shabaab leaders have also admitted to links with al Qaeda.

"We will take our orders from Sheikh Osama bin Laden because we are his students," Robow continued. "Al Qaeda is the mother of the holy war in Somalia."

In September of 2008, Shabaab formally reached out to al Qaeda's senior leadership in an effort to better integrate with the network and its strategic nodes across Africa and the Middle East. The effort came in the form of a 24-minute video that featured Nabhan.

In the tape, Nabhan declared an oath of bayat (loyalty) on behalf of Shabaab to bin Laden and al Qaeda and encouraged fighters to train in Shabaab-run camps and participate in the fight against the transitional federal government, Ethiopian forces, and African Union peacekeepers.

The response to Shabaab's declaration came two months later, on Nov. 19, 2008, when al Qaeda operations chief Ayman al-Zawahiri acknowledged the group in a propaganda video by calling them "my brothers, the lions of Islam in Somalia."


"[R]ejoice in victory and conquest," Zawahiri said in an official transcript acquired by The Long War Journal, "and hold tightly to the truth for which you have given your lives, and don't put down your weapons before the Mujahid state of Islam and Tawheed [oneness with god] has been set up in Somalia."

Most of Shabaab's top leaders are foreign al Qaeda operatives. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who also was indicted for his involvement in the 1998 attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, served as Shabaab's top intelligence official before replacing Nabhan as Shabaab's top military leader. Al Qaeda also appointed Fazul as its operations chief for East Africa.

Shaykh Muhammad Abu Fa'id, a Saudi citizen, serves as a top financier and a "manager" for Shabaab. Abu Musa Mombasa, a Pakistani citizen, serves as Shabaab's chief of security and training. Mahmud Mujajir, a Sudanese citizen, is Shabaab's chief of recruitment for suicide bombers. Abu Mansour al Amriki, a US citizen, serves as a military commander, recruiter, financier, and propagandist.

The Rest @ Longwar Journal with a nod to Thoughts of a Technocrat

This was originally published in the Christian Science Monitor August 26, 2009

The Somali enclave of Eastleigh in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, is now a recruiting and financial center for hardline Islamists fighting in neighboring Somalia.

The streets of Eastleigh, a Somali enclave of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, are crowded and dirty. Sewage and rotting garbage flow through gullies. Police are virtually nonexistent; restaurants are locked, even when open, for safety reasons; and guns are readily available for sale at the market. No one ever said "Little Mogadishu" was paradise, but now the sprawling neighborhood has become a hub of financing and recruiting for militant Islamists waging holy war in neighboring Somalia, according to residents, security analysts, and diplomats.

"Those who kill people in Somalia are also here – scattered all over the place," says an elderly Sufi Muslim sheikh matter-of-factly. "This is the hotspot of the Somali fundamentalism.... They are recruiting right here in Nairobi."

In the latest chapter in a civil war that has raged since 1991, Somalia's radical insurgents this week rejected the Western-backed transitional government's call for a cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Militant and moderate Islamists are battling for control of the rubble-strewn streets of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, fighting that has forced more than 1.4 million people to flee their homes and caused what the United Nations on Wednesday called the country's worst humanitarian crisis in 18 years of war.

But here in Eastleigh, the war takes a different form. Little Mogadishu has become a port through which Somali insurgents raise money and recruit fighters, especially for the militant group, Al Shabab, which has been labeled an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization by the US government.

"What we know is that Al Shabab is very popular in Eastleigh," says Roland Marchal, senior research fellow at the Paris-based National Center for Scientific Research. "Al Shabab has been able at different moments to bring a number of people in Eastleigh to fight in Somalia. It's very likely that a number of economic operators in Eastleigh try to collect money and support this organization."

Why young Somali-Kenyans join militants Outside a small green-gated home in Eastleigh, the elderly sheikh – who declined to be named due to the grave threat to anyone talking about Somali militant operations – says agents of Somali insurgents have recruited from across the country dozens of Somali-Kenyans, most in their early 20s, who are missing and presumed dead in Somalia.

Though their parents were moderate, a lack of employment or alternatives led them to become students of madrassas (religious schools), where they adopted more extreme ideologies, he says.

Estimates of the number of recruited Kenyans range from dozens to thousands, most – but not all – Somali-Kenyans. The insurgency benefits from an effective recruitment network that works out of Eastleigh. Diplomats say recruiters use a combination of money and brainwashing to pull in the youths, many of them from refugee camps and areas along the Somali border. "

These young men have no ID papers, no future," says the sheikh. "The only future they see is blowing themselves up and going to heaven." Insurgents in Somalia are increasingly relying on suicide bomb attacks in their offensives.

One woman, the sheikh says, lost her 12-year-old son. She went looking for him in Somalia's southern port town of Kismayo, under insurgent control, and found him training to be a suicide bomber. She returned home emptyhanded. "If she'd tried to bring him, she'd be killed," the sheikh says.

In Somalia, moderate Sufis, belonging to a traditionally peaceful group called Ahl al-Sunna wal Jama'a, have taken up arms to defend their vision of Islam against militant groups, like Al Shabab, that are not only fighting the government, but also desecrating Sufi graves and attacking their more moderate views.

In Kenya, Sufis are also fighting back, but not with guns. Instead, they are trying to keep their children alive through a "counterjihad." "We are trying to teach our children at home. We don't even send them to madrassas.... We don't trust [the madrassas] with our children," says the sheikh.

"If they knew you were writing this, you'd go back without a head."

How money flows through Eastleigh According to a regional analyst who has studied Somalia for nearly two decades but cannot be named because his work is too politically and diplomatically sensitive, up to $3 million passes through Eastleigh to Somalia every year. The money comes from businessmen who support the insurgency, from mosques that fundraise, and from foreign donors who sometimes funnel it through Eastleigh.

Using an informal money transfer system called hawala, Somalis in any part of the world can make money available in Eastleigh within minutes.

From there, it can be carried north to the porous and badly guarded Kenya-Somalia border. The cash funds anything from guns to fuel to uniforms. The transfers are hard to track, Mr. Marchal says, because they are generally small payments that do not attract much attention. But money also gets to Somalia in other ways.

He lays out an example: Sympathizers of insurgents knowingly buy sugar from certain vendors in Kenya. They send that sugar to Somalia, where it is resold. None of these activities are illegal, but "then the money disappears," Marchal says. "It's very efficient.... There is no profit, no fee.

[All the money] goes to the organization. This is untraceable for anybody." No entity in Eastleigh has been under more suspicion than the Sixth Street mosque, a small, unimposing building on top of a FedEx shop, hidden among laundry-cluttered balconies.

The mosque is among Al Shabab's main fundraisers in Eastleigh, according to a Nairobi-based official of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia who spoke anonymously because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

"Sixth Street mosque has a history of supporting militant Islamist causes in Somalia since 1991," says the regional analyst. Its leader, Sheikh Umall, has called the Somali government an "infidel government" and a "puppet of foreign interests," he says. But knowing he is a person of interest to the US, Kenya, the AU, and the UN, Umall has sung a more moderate tune in recent months.

Fighters without borders Unconfirmed numbers gathered by the Institute for Security Studies in Kenya suggest that as many as 1 in every 10 refugees crossing the border from Somalia into Kenya are members of Al Shabab, which has used severe forms of sharia, or Islamic law, such as amputating the hands of thieves and stoning women accused of adultery.

Al Shabab uses Eastleigh to treat its wounded and run madrassas, from which children often disappear, says the AU official. "They have agents who are here, who brainwash these kids, who end up going there [to Somalia to fight]," he says. "It has become problematic." The AU and UN say Somali-Kenyan recruits are joined by others from Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, even the United States and Europe – many of whom enter Somalia through Nairobi, according to analysts.

Until recently, you could get a fake Somali passport in Eastleigh's Garisa Lodge mall in minutes.

Government plays down Eastleigh concerns

In June, the Kenyan newspaper Daily Nation reported that a Kenyan named Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan leads a group of 180 foreigners in Somalia, called al-Muhajirun, fighting alongside the Somali insurgents and connected to the global terrorist group Al Qaeda.

But the Kenyan government denies there is much of a problem. "We don't believe Kenyans have gone to Somalia or have been recruited to go to Somalia," says Alfred Mutua, the Kenyan government spokesman. "We received reports of attempted recruitment, [but] ... because of our security apparatus, we've made it impossible for them."

In late 2006, when Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia to overthrow Islamists who had taken over, Kenya took precautionary measures, he says. It closed its border with Somalia, allowing only aid workers to enter Somalia from Kenya. The border is heavily patrolled by police, military, and helicopters 24 hours a day, and the government is using satellite technology to monitor vehicles crossing it, says Mr. Mutua. Reports of recruitment are "mere speculation," he adds, as Kenya has used "very high intelligence" to infiltrate the Somali community and disband any recruiting circles.

Kenyan police spokesman Erick Kirathe says Eastleigh is under high surveillance – both overt and covert – because it is a poorer, more-crowded neighborhood where crime is more likely. "It is much better policed than is apparent," he says. "Even visibly, there is much more police presence than in other areas." Because the attention it has received makes it unappealing to terrorists, he argues, Eastleigh is not as threatening as people think.

Mr. Kirathe says no one has been arrested for supporting the Somali insurgency, and "we really don't consider Eastleigh a major risk as of yet." "It's a point of concern," Mutua adds, "but we feel that we've got the situation under control."

Others beg to differ Some observers strongly disagree. They say recruitment in Kenya is longstanding and widespread. "We all know it's happening," one diplomat in Nairobi says, adding that the Kenyan government is unable or unwilling to stop it. The border may be officially closed, but even Mutua admits people are able to sneak through. But sources say the Kenyan government is beginning to take the threat more seriously. "They are panicking," the diplomat says. "They were not doing their best. Now the threat to Kenya is higher than ever. They have to do something." It seems the government is starting to feel that way, too. But it remains divided. Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula have called for sending in troops, as Ethiopia had done, to defend the Somali government. "It will be most inappropriate and inadvisable to do nothing when our national security and regional stability is threatened," Mr. Wetangula said recently.

Authorities fear a backlash But with hundreds of thousands of Somalis living in Kenya, strong involvement by the government and any taking of sides could expose Kenya to a big risk.

Insurgents have already threatened to retaliate within Kenya if attacked. "There's a reluctance to really mess with the Somalis," the regional analyst says. The fear is not only on the political level. Insurgents are perceived to have such a presence in Kenya that even average citizens are wary of providing authorities with information on their operations.

In Nairobi, activists who speak out against Somali extremists are threatened. "Because I'm not one of them, then I'm on the other side," says a Somali civil society activist who goes by the name Madobe. He calls the Somali Islamist movement a "cancer spreading very fast," and the insurgents "sub-human." He believes they are tapping his phone and e-mail. "Anytime, I expect a very big knife in my back."

Source The Christian Schince Monitor, by way of Horufahdi.com

Shabaab conduct Yemen - Style Suicide Attack on Peace Keepr Compound

It appears that the new tactics of the last few months continue; it suggests that international Islamist insurgents have significant influence in a four shabaab groups. Since their offensive of a a couple of months ago, and then defensive action, non Somalis appear to be taking more and more leadership, as demonstrated by recent suicide attacks against Peace Keepers.

The report is still early, but it appeArs two vehicles with UN lgogls got inside a Ugandan Compound,

-Shimron Issachar


MOGADISHU, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Islamist Al-Shabaab group in Somalia on Thursday claimed responsibility for two suicide car bomb attacks that simultaneously targeted bases of African Union (AU) peacekeepers around Mogadishu's international airport, a local radio reported.

An unnamed official from the Islamist Al-Shabaab movement quoted by the independent Shabelle radio station in Mogadishu as saying the two suicide car bombs bearing UN logo managed to enter inside the camp where Ugandan contingent of the peacekeepers were based next to the airport in the capital.

The rebel official claimed one of the suicide car bomb attacks targeted the venue where officials from the United States, the UN and NATO were holding a meeting inside the base of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), while the other hit a meeting place for officials from Somali government security officials. He said the "attack achieved its objectives."

Neither AMISOM commanders nor Somali government forces have spoken about the attack, which came only three days after a senior Al-Shabaab commander, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, was killed in a U. S. raid in the south of Mogadishu.

But witnesses in the area say that the expositions were "massive and deafening" with black smoke pillowing from the bases in the south of the restive Somali capital.

Heavy shelling ensued targeting Mogadishu's main Bakara market following the suicide attack.

Traders and shoppers at the market busy in business fled in panic as the end of Ramadan Eid Al Fidr festival due in three days's time.

The Rest @ Xinhuanet




Update: 10 49:PM GMT

Somali rebels in Mogadishu hit an AU base on Thursday with two suicide blasts.

• The explosions killed 9 people but hospital officials stated at least 7 more people have been killed.
• Among the dead is Deputy Commander of the AU mission AMISOM.
• A spokesperson for the terrorist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attacks.
• The bombing, according to Voice of America, was in retaliation for the murder of a wanted senior al-Qaeda official, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan who was killed by the United States-led military operation. “We got our revenge! We have got our revenge for our brother Nabhan.
• Two suicide car bombs targeting the AU base, praise Allah,” exclaimed the al-Shabaab spokesperson, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage.
• According to one witness, Farah Hassan, two United Nations vehicles entered the base, which was followed by two more vehicles carrying government military personnel.

“We thought they were real U.N. cars carrying white people, but moments later deafening thunder shook the ground. The area was covered with flames and clouds of smoke,” Hassan told Reuters.

Somali Information Minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle said that the drivers were foreigners who spoke English and identified themselves as working for the United Nations, reports Reuters.

On the same day of the attacks, al-Shabaab issued several demands for the release of a French hostage, who is a security consultant, and an immediate end to French support of Somalia’s government.

This bombing is the worst attack since February when two suicide bombers infiltrated another base.


Source Digital Journal

Al Qaeda Bomber Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan Killed in Somalia

By VOA News 15 September 2009

U.S. military officials say American special forces staged an attack in southern Somalia Monday and killed a Kenyan-born terrorist suspect.

Witnesses in the area said soldiers in at least two helicopters fired on a vehicle near the southern town of Barawe, killing at least two passengers and wounding two others.

Kenyan terror suspect Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan talks to a relative on a mobile phone in the Nairobi High Court (2004 File)U.S. officials say the attack killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, whom authorities have linked to al-Qaida.

Nabhan was wanted by U.S. intelligence for questioning about attacks against a hotel and a plane in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2002.

• Authorities say special forces troops have taken his body into U.S. custody.
• Earlier reports said those involved in Monday's raid appeared to be French, but the French military has denied staging a raid in Somali territory.
• The Barawe area is controlled by the insurgent group al-Shabab, which is fighting to topple the Somali government.

The Rest @ VOA

-From Yahoo News

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – U.S. special forces in helicopters attacked a car in southern Somalia on Monday and killed one of east Africa's most wanted al Qaeda militants, Somali and U.S. sources said.

Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, 28, was suspected of building the truck bomb that killed 15 people at a Kenyan hotel in 2002, as well as involvement in a simultaneous, but botched, missile launch at an Israeli airliner leaving Mombasa airport.

A senior Somali government source said the fugitive was in a car with other foreign insurgents from the al Shabaab rebel group when they were hit near Roobow village in Barawe District, some 250 km (150 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu.

Washington says al Shabaab is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia.

A U.S. official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. special operations forces aboard two helicopters that flew from a U.S. Navy ship opened fired on the vehicle that they believed contained Nabhan.

The troops took the body into custody, the official said and said they were confident the body was that of Nabhan.

The official said a total of four Somalis were killed while the Somali government source said that Nabhan and four others died.

"These young fighters do not have the same skills as their colleagues in Afghanistan or elsewhere when it comes to foreign air strikes," the government source told Reuters. "They are in confusion now. I hope the world takes action."

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to comment "on any alleged operation in Somalia."

Western security agencies say the failed Horn of Africa state has become a safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who use it to plot attacks in the region and beyond.

Nabhan, who has long been on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted list, is believed to have fled to Somalia after the 2002 bombing of a Israeli-owned Kenyan beach hotel.

AL QAEDA SUSPECTS

The United States says another leading al Qaeda suspect who may be in Somalia, Sudanese explosives expert Abu Talha al-Sudani, is believed to have orchestrated those two attacks.

The U.S. military has launched air strikes inside Somalia in the past against individuals Washington blames for the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1988.

In May last year, U.S. warplanes killed the then-leader of al Shabaab and al Qaeda's top man in the country, Afghan-trained Aden Hashi Ayro, in an attack on the central town of Dusamareb.

Under Ayro, al Shabaab had adopted Iraq-style tactics, including assassinations, roadside bombs and suicide bombings.

Several residents said they believed some French commandos had been involved in Monday's operation in Barawe, but a defense ministry spokesman in Paris denied any involvement.

French forces have also launched raids inside Somalia in the past to rescue French nationals held by rebels and pirates. Paris has a large military base in neighboring Djibouti.

Last month, one of two French security advisers kidnapped by Somali insurgents in July managed to escape from his captors and fled to the presidential palace in Mogadishu.

His colleague is still being held by al Shabaab, and some Somalis feared he would be killed in revenge for Monday's raid.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's administration controls only small parts of the nation's drought-ridden region and a few districts of the bullet-scarred coastal capital.

Violence has killed more than 18,000 Somalis since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes.

That has triggered one of the world's worst aid emergencies, with the number of people needing help leaping 17.5 percent in a year to 3.76 million, or half the population.


The Rest @ Yahoo News

-from AP
MOGADISHU, Somalia – U.S. special forces aboard helicopters penetrated into Somalia and, guns blazing, attacked a convoy said to contain a top al-Qaida fugitive. A local official, citing intelligence reports, confirmed on Tuesday the target was killed and Islamist insurgents vowed to seek revenge.

Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan citizen, was wanted for questioning in connection with the car bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and the near simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in 2002. Ten Kenyans and three Israelis were killed in the blast at the hotel. The missiles missed the airliner.

Monday's commando-style action took place amid growing concerns that al-Qaida is gaining a foothold in this lawless nation.

Many experts fear Somalia is becoming a haven for al-Qaida, a place for terrorists to train and gather strength much like Afghanistan in the 1990s. Last year, U.S. missiles killed reputed al-Qaida commander Aden Hashi Ayro — marking the first major success after a string of U.S. military attacks in 2008.

Two U.S. military officials said that forces from the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command were involved in Monday's raid in southern Somalia. The officials gave no details about the target, and they spoke on condition of anonymity because the operation was secret.

But the deputy mayor for security affairs in Somalia's capital, citing intelligence reports, confirmed that 30-year-old Nabhan was killed.

Abdi Fitah Shawey did not elaborate.

Somali witnesses to Monday's raid say six helicopters buzzed an insurgent-held village near Barawe, some 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Mogadishu, before two of the aircraft opened fire on a vehicle, killing two and wounding two.

Two senior members of al-Shabab, who asked that their names not be used because they are not authorized to speak publicly, said their fighters will retaliate for the raid.

"They will taste the bitterness of our response," one of the commanders told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Ernst Jan Hogendoorn, Horn of Africa Project Director of the International Crisis Group, said the "surgical" precision of Monday's raid shows that U.S. has specific intelligence in Somalia.

"I think it will certainly make al-Shabab leaders much more cautious when they are operating because obviously the United States has very precise intelligence about their movements," he said.

Like much of Somalia, Barawe and its surrounding villages are controlled by the militant group al-Shabab, which the U.S. accuses of having ties to al-Qaida. Al-Shabab, which has foreign fighters in its ranks, seeks to overthrow the government and impose a strict form of Islam in Somalia.

The U.N.-backed government, with support from African Union peacekeepers, holds only a few blocks of Mogadishu, the war-ravaged capital.

The Rest @ The AP