MOGADISHU, Somalia –
A top U.S. official in the region said Thursday that none of the al-Qaida suspects believed to be hiding in Somalia died in a U.S. airstrike this week, but Somalis with close ties to the terrorist group were killed.
But the U.S. official in Kenya, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that Ethiopian troops and U.S. special forces were still pursuing the three suspects in southern Somalia.
U.S. and Somali officials said Wednesday that a small team of U.S. special operations forces are in Somalia hunting suspected al-Qaida fighters and providing military advice to Ethiopian and Somali forces on the ground.
The U.S. forces entered Somalia with Ethiopian forces late last month when Ethiopians launched their attack against a Somali Islamic movement said to be sheltering al-Qaida figures, one of the officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
U.S. officials have also acknowledged launching one airstrike aimed at killing suspected al-Qaida terrorists. Somali officials say the U.S. has carried out additional strikes, but there is no way to independently verify whether those were launched by U.S. or Ethiopian forces.
Fazul, one of the FBI’s most-wanted terror suspects, has evaded capture for eight years. The Somali president’s chief of staff told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he had been killed in a U.S. airstrike early Monday in southern Somalia.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Wednesday that eight suspected terrorists were killed in the attack, but their identities would not be confirmed until DNA testing is completed.
The U.S. official in the region said eight to 10 individuals were killed in the attack, most of whom were Somalis and had close ties to al-Qaida.
Meanwhile, Somali and Ethiopian forces skirmished with Islamic militiamen around the area of Ras Kamboni in Somalia’s southernmost tip early Thursday, part of mop-up operations Meles said his troops were carrying out against the fighters that were driven from Somalia’s capital weeks ago.
One resident in the area, Mosa Aden Hersi, said there were numerous militant and civilian casualties in the fighting. “We saw the dead bodies of 17 men in military uniform under a small hill, but we do not know their identity,” he said by two-way radio.
The remote, forested area has few residents and high-frequency radio is the only reliable form of communications.
The Ethiopian Information Ministry said Thursday its military was also launching helicopter and troop attacks around the town of Dobley, about four miles from the Kenyan border.
Ethiopia intervened to protect Somalia’s internationally backed government on Dec. 24 after Islamic forces advanced on the only town the government controlled. Within 10 days, Ethiopian and Somali troops had pushed the Islamic fighters into a corner between the Kenyan border and the Indian Ocean.
A Somali human rights group said Thursday that thousands of Somalis fleeing the fighting were now stranded on the Kenyan border, which has been closed.
“Thousands are in a bad condition and they do not have food and water. They are stranded at the border after Kenya closed it and they cannot go back to their houses for two reasons: the ongoing airstrikes and lack of transportation,” said Ali Bashi, chairman of the Fanole human rights group.
The Red Cross said more than 850 wounded people, both civilians and soldiers, have been treated at medical facilities since fighting started just over two weeks ago. The group said in a statement it was deeply concerned about the plight of civilians and those captured by Ethiopian and government forces.
In addition to the special forces on the ground, the U.S. has moved additional forces into waters off the Somali coast, where they have conducted security missions, monitoring maritime traffic and intercepting and interrogating crew on suspicious ships.
With the arrival of the USS Ramage guided missile destroyer, there were five ships Wednesday: the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, the USS Bunker Hill and USS Anzio guided missile cruisers, and the USS Ashland amphibious landing ship, which officials said they could use as a brig for any captured suspects.
The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday backed the speedy deployment of an African peacekeeping force to Somalia and called for a dialogue among all political players and humanitarian aid for the country.
Somalia has not had an effective central government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other. The interim government was established in 2004.
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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Pauline Jelinek in Washington, Chris Tomlinson in Nairobi, Kenya, and Mohamed Olad Hassan and Mohamed Sheik Nor in Mogadishu contributed to this report.
In Washington, U.S. government officials said they had no reason to believe that the suspect, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, had been killed. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the information’s sensitivity.
The report came as U.S forces apparently launched a third day of airstrikes in southern Somalia. At least four separate strikes were reported around Ras Kamboni, on the Somali coast near the Kenyan border. Witnesses said an AC-130 gunship attacked a suspected al-Qaida training camp.
A senior Somali government official also said a small U.S. team has been providing military advice to Ethiopian and government forces on the ground. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
In Washington, a U.S. official said it would be virtually unheard of for the United States to be involved in an operation of this size without “eyes on the ground.”
Two senior Pentagon officials said they had heard of no plans to put any sizable contingent of Americans in Somalia. However, small teams of liaison officers — such as special forces or trainers — are another matter, the officials said.
All three officials also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject.
Meanwhile, Somalia’s deputy prime minister said Wednesday that American troops were needed on the ground to root extremists from his troubled country, and he expected the troops soon.
Fazul, the al-Qaida suspect believed killed in the airstrike Monday, was wanted for allegedly planned the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
“I have received a report from the American side chronicling the targets and list of damage,” Abdirizak Hassan, the Somali president’s chief of staff, told The Associated Press. “One of the items they were claiming was that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed is dead.”
In Washington, an intelligence official said the U.S. killed five to 10 people in an attack on an al-Qaida target in southern Somalia but did not say who was killed. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the operation’s sensitivity, said perhaps four or five others were wounded.
Fazul, 32, joined al-Qaida in Afghanistan and trained there with Osama bin Laden, according to the transcript of an FBI interrogation of a known associate. He had a $5 million bounty on his head for allegedly planning the 1998 embassy bombings, which killed 225 people.
He is also suspected of planning the car bombing of an Israeli 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, 12 miles north of Mombasa. The missiles missed the airliner.
The airstrikes and deployment were part of the first U.S. offensive in Somalia since 18 American soldiers were killed there in 1993.
The offensive is aimed at capturing al-Qaida members thought to be fleeing Somalia since the Islamic militia that sheltered them began losing ground to Somali government soldiers backed by Ethiopian troops last month. It has drawn international criticism, although Britain’s leader Tony Blair has pledged support.
U.S. Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the U.S. military assault had been based on credible intelligence. He would not confirm any details of the airstrikes, conducted by at least one AC-130 gunship. He would also not say if any specific members of al-Qaida had been killed, or address if the operations were continuing.
In three days of attacks near Afmadow, close to the Kenyan border, 64 civilians had been killed and 100 injured, said elder Haji Farah Qorshel. There was no independent confirmation of his claim.
Hassan said local intelligence reports indicated that Abdirahman Janaqow, a deputy leader of the Somali Islamic militants, had also been killed.
Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed said U.S. special forces were needed on the ground as Somali and Ethiopian forces have been unable to capture the last remaining hideouts of suspected extremists.
“The only way we are going to kill or capture the surviving al-Qaida terrorists is for U.S. special forces to go in on the ground,” said Aideed, a former U.S. Marine. “They have the know-how and the right equipment to capture these people.”
“As far as we are aware they are not on the ground yet, but it is only a matter of time,” Aideed said.
Leaders of Somalia’s Islamic movement have vowed from their hideouts to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war, and bin Laden’s deputy has called on militants to carry out suicide attacks on Ethiopian troops.
In the capital of Mogadishu, some said the attacks would increase anti-American sentiment in the largely Muslim country, where people are already upset by the presence of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population.
Somalia has not had an effective central government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other. The interim government was established in 2004.
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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Salad Duhul and Mohamed Sheik Nor in Mogadishu and Chris Tomlinson in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.
