US ship 'attacks al-Qaida target in Somalia'
Militias in Somalia have been accused of harbouring terrorists
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Saturday, 02, Jun 2007 07:11
A US warship bombarded a remote Somali village with missiles yesterday in a strike which targeted suspected Islamic militants, according to reports.
Somali officials and local residents said missiles pounded a mountainous area around the northern port town of Bargal, where the militants were suspected of having established a base after their arrival in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland by boat earlier this week.
Unnamed sources cited by broadcaster CNN said the attack targeted an al-Qaida operative Washington suspects was involved in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The Pentagon has yet to confirm that one of its ships carried out the strike, which would be at least the third conducted by US forces in Somalia so far this year.
US officials, who have accused Islamic militias in Somalia of harbouring terrorists, have previously confirmed that American forces unsuccessfully tried to target three suspected al-Qaida members in an air strike carried out in the south of the country in January.
The latest reported attack took place after extremists and foreign fighters landed by speedboat in Bargal on Wednesday, local officials said.
It is understood that the group subsequently fled to surrounding hills around the port after a fierce gun battle with local police.
One local resident, who asked not to be named, told the Reuters news agency that missiles fired from the US ship had hit the mountains where the Islamic fighters were hiding.
"A plane was circling and guiding the ship where to hit," the unnamed source said.
Asked to comment on the reports, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the US was working closely with its allies to "seek out, identify, locate, capture, and if necessary kill terrorists and those who would provide them safe haven".
"The very nature of some of our operations, as well as the success of those operations is often predicated on our ability to work quietly with our partners and allies," he added, in comments carried by Reuters.