A senior Al-Qaida suspect wanted for bombing US embassies in
East Africa was killed by US airstrikes, a Somali official said
Wednesday as witnesses said US forces launched a third day of
strikes.
The death of al-Qaida suspect Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was
detailed in an American intelligence report passed on to the Somali
authorities. Mohammed, one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists who
has evaded capture for eight years, was allegedly harbored by a
Somali Islamic movement that had challenged this country's
Ethiopian-backed government for power.
"I have received a report from the American side chronicling the
targets and list of damage," said Abdirizak Hassan, the Somali
president's chief of staff. "One of the items they were claiming
was that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed is dead."
In Washington, a US intelligence official said on Tuesday the US
killed five to 10 people believed to be associated with Al-Qaida.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
operation's sensitivity, said a small number of others present,
perhaps four or five, were wounded.
Mohammed, 32, joined al-Qaida in Afghanistan and trained there
with Osama bin Laden, the terror network's leader, according to the
transcript of an FBI interrogation of a known associate. He has a
US$5 million price on his head for allegedly planning the 1998
attacks on the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 225
people.
He is also suspected of planning 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.
Police at the Kenyan coastal border town of Kiunga on Monday
arrested a wife of Mohammed, with her three children, according to
an internal police report Wednesday.
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64 civilians reportedly died
Somali officials said many died in Monday's strike the first
overt US military action in Somalia since a disastrous humanitarian
mission ended in 1994.
In three days of attacks near Afmadow, a town in a forested area
close to the Kenyan border, traditional elder Haji Farah Qorshel
said 64 civilians had been killed and 100 injured. There was no
independent confirmation of his claim.
Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed said US special
forces are needed on the ground as government forces backed by
Ethiopia are unable to capture the last remaining hideouts of
suspected extremists.
No American troops are yet believed to be in Somalia, Aideed
said, but covert operations on the ground may be under way. "As far
as we are aware they are not on the ground yet, but it is only a
matter of time," he said.
Criticism on strikes
The US actions were defended by Somali President Abdullahi
Yusuf, but criticised by others including new UN chief Ban Ki-moon,
the European Union, and former colonial power Italy.
"The secretary-general is concerned about the new dimension this
kind of action could introduce to the conflict and the possible
escalation of hostilities that may result," UN spokeswoman Michele
Montas said.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said Rome opposed
"unilateral initiatives that could spark new tensions in an area
that is already very destabilised".
Critics of the action say it could misfire by creating strong
Somali resentment and feeding Islamist militancy.
"Before this, it was just tacit support for Ethiopia. Now the US
has fingerprints on the intervention and is going to be held more
accountable," said Horn of Africa expert Ken Menkhaus. "This has
the potential for a backlash both in Somalia and the region."
(China Daily via agencies January 11, 2007)
