FanTAStic job!!U.S. commandos hit Somalia insurgents
Black Hawk Down-like raid targets senior Al Qaeda fugitive
Sep 16, 2009 04:30 AM
Mohamed Olad Hassan
Associated Press
MOGADISHU–The U.S. helicopters, guns blazing, swooped over a convoy carrying a top Al Qaeda fugitive in rural Somalia. Elite commandos rappelled to the ground, collected bodies, and took off on a cloud of red dust.
The raid took just 15 minutes.
Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, wanted for the 2002 car bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner, was killed in Monday's raid, according to three U.S. officials and a Somali security official who cited intelligence reports.
Witnesses said six helicopters buzzed an insurgent-held village near Barawe, in southern Somalia, before two of them opened fire, killing two and wounding two.
The helicopter assault – rare in Somalia since the October 1993 battle of "Black Hawk Down" – underscored Washington's concerns that lawless Somalia is fast becoming a haven for terrorists.
Al-Shabab, a powerful local Islamist insurgent group with links to Al Qaeda, swiftly vowed retaliation.
"They will taste the bitterness of our response," a senior al-Shabab commander told Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. Al-Shabab seeks to impose a strict form of Islam in Somalia.
An 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.
U.S. officials were hesitant to provide details about the secretive commando operation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, an al-Shabab spokesman, said Nabhan, a Kenyan national, was wounded along with three of his guards. Nabhan was then taken away by the U.S. forces, "but we do not know if he is alive or dead."
"They came under attack from six helicopters and defended themselves for some time, but ... they sustained a lot of bullet wounds and then they were taken by the enemy."
Nabhan's absence "will not affect our operation," he said.
Abdulkadir Sheikh Mohamed Nur, governor of the Lower Shabelle region, said five militants, including Nabhan, were killed, based on intelligence reports. U.S. forces took the dead and wounded, he said.
Nur said he welcomed such attacks, but urged the U.S. to inform Somali officials beforehand to "avoid civilian casualties."
And this has something to do with Somalia so i probably dnt care 
