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More US Somalia Strikes, World Angry
MOGADISHU — Despite mounting international criticism, US warplanes conducted more air strikes in southern Somalia on Wednesday, January10 , while the Somali deputy prime minister invited American ground troops into the Horn of Africa country.
"As we speak now, the area is being bombarded by the American air force," A Somalia government source told Reuters Wednesday.
American aircraft hit an area close to Ras Kamboni, a coastal village near the Kenyan border where many fleeing fighters of the Supreme Islamic Courts of Somalia (SICS) are believed to be holed up.
The source said the Americans hit the four areas of Hayo, Garer, Bankajirow and Badmadowe.
Residents also confirmed new US air strikes near the southern towns of Badade and Afmadow.
"Elders in Badade and Afmadow who made a radio contact with us confirmed there was an American air strike in the same area today," Yusuf Ismail Aden, a resident of Kismayo, told AFP in Mogadishu by phone.
"They said they could hear over-flights in the morning," he added.
A Somali clan elder also reported a US air strike on Tuesday, but that was not confirmed by other sources.
This came a few hours after the first US attack in Somalia since 1994 when an AC- 130gunship hit positions in southern Somalia killing more than 19 civilians.
The Pentagon claimed the attack targeted Al-Qaeda operatives linked to the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Washington claims the SICS, routed of Mogadishu and other strongholds across Somalia by Ethiopian troops, had provided shelter to a handful of Al-Qaeda members.
The SICS has repeatedly denied Al-Qaeda links, dismissing the charge as a pretext to justify foreign intervention in Somalia.
US Revenge
Many Somalis believe the US is attacking their country to revenge its previous military failures in the Horn of Africa state.
"They’re just trying to get revenge for what we did to them in1993 ," Deeq Salad Mursel, a taxi driver, told The New York Times Wednesday.
Washington withdrew troops in the early 1990s from the UN-backed Operation Restore Hope stabilization mission after suffering heavy losses in what was later dramatized in a book and a film "Black Hawk Down."
A botched US rapid raid by a helicopter to snatch Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid led to a huge gunbattle in Mogadishu in which hundreds of Somalis and 18 US soldiers were killed and mutilated.
A further 18 US troops were killed in Somalia in numerous incidents involving landmines, ambushes and accidents.
The US air strikes in Somalia have drawn criticism from both the United Nations and European Union.
"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," said chief UN spokeswoman Michele Montas.
The European Union has also blasted the US military intervention in the Somali conflict.
"Any incident of this kind is not helpful in the long term," said Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema also denounced the US attacks, saying Rome opposed "unilateral initiatives that could spark new tensions in an area that is already very destabilized".
Norway, a member of the international contact group on Somalia, said Washington's explanation of its conduct in Somalia was "not sufficient" and said the fight against terrorism should be fought in a courtroom and not with military hardware.
Invitation
Deputy Premier and Interior Minister in the interim Ethiopia-backed Somali government, Mohamed Aideed, invited direct US intervention in the war-torn country.
Aideed called for deploying US ground troops in Somalia to hunt down what he said Al-Qaeda operatives, reported the Doha-based Al-Jazeera news television.
Experts ruled out US approval to deploy ground troops in the Horn of Africa country but believe the call could be seized on by the Americans to intensify air strikes in southern Somalia.
US and French military sources have already reported that US Special Forces were working with Ethiopian troops on the ground in operations inside Somalia, reported Reuters.
The US set up a taskforce in Djibouti in 2002 to serve as a major hub for US counter-terrorism training and operations.
Members of the1 ,800-member Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa have also trained with troops in Ethiopia, and US ships patrol the nearby Gulf of Aden, according to Pentagon documents.
Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was quick to defend Tuesday's US air strikes.
"The Americans had a right to carry out the air strikes on some Al-Qaeda members."
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1168265512181&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
American aircraft hit an area close to Ras Kamboni, a coastal village near the Kenyan border where many fleeing fighters of the Supreme Islamic Courts of Somalia (SICS) are believed to be holed up.
The source said the Americans hit the four areas of Hayo, Garer, Bankajirow and Badmadowe.
Residents also confirmed new US air strikes near the southern towns of Badade and Afmadow.
"Elders in Badade and Afmadow who made a radio contact with us confirmed there was an American air strike in the same area today," Yusuf Ismail Aden, a resident of Kismayo, told AFP in Mogadishu by phone.
"They said they could hear over-flights in the morning," he added.
A Somali clan elder also reported a US air strike on Tuesday, but that was not confirmed by other sources.
This came a few hours after the first US attack in Somalia since 1994 when an AC- 130gunship hit positions in southern Somalia killing more than 19 civilians.
The Pentagon claimed the attack targeted Al-Qaeda operatives linked to the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Washington claims the SICS, routed of Mogadishu and other strongholds across Somalia by Ethiopian troops, had provided shelter to a handful of Al-Qaeda members.
The SICS has repeatedly denied Al-Qaeda links, dismissing the charge as a pretext to justify foreign intervention in Somalia.
US Revenge
Many Somalis believe the US is attacking their country to revenge its previous military failures in the Horn of Africa state.
"They’re just trying to get revenge for what we did to them in1993 ," Deeq Salad Mursel, a taxi driver, told The New York Times Wednesday.
Washington withdrew troops in the early 1990s from the UN-backed Operation Restore Hope stabilization mission after suffering heavy losses in what was later dramatized in a book and a film "Black Hawk Down."
A botched US rapid raid by a helicopter to snatch Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid led to a huge gunbattle in Mogadishu in which hundreds of Somalis and 18 US soldiers were killed and mutilated.
A further 18 US troops were killed in Somalia in numerous incidents involving landmines, ambushes and accidents.
The US air strikes in Somalia have drawn criticism from both the United Nations and European Union.
"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," said chief UN spokeswoman Michele Montas.
The European Union has also blasted the US military intervention in the Somali conflict.
"Any incident of this kind is not helpful in the long term," said Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema also denounced the US attacks, saying Rome opposed "unilateral initiatives that could spark new tensions in an area that is already very destabilized".
Norway, a member of the international contact group on Somalia, said Washington's explanation of its conduct in Somalia was "not sufficient" and said the fight against terrorism should be fought in a courtroom and not with military hardware.
Invitation
Deputy Premier and Interior Minister in the interim Ethiopia-backed Somali government, Mohamed Aideed, invited direct US intervention in the war-torn country.
Aideed called for deploying US ground troops in Somalia to hunt down what he said Al-Qaeda operatives, reported the Doha-based Al-Jazeera news television.
Experts ruled out US approval to deploy ground troops in the Horn of Africa country but believe the call could be seized on by the Americans to intensify air strikes in southern Somalia.
US and French military sources have already reported that US Special Forces were working with Ethiopian troops on the ground in operations inside Somalia, reported Reuters.
The US set up a taskforce in Djibouti in 2002 to serve as a major hub for US counter-terrorism training and operations.
Members of the1 ,800-member Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa have also trained with troops in Ethiopia, and US ships patrol the nearby Gulf of Aden, according to Pentagon documents.
Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was quick to defend Tuesday's US air strikes.
"The Americans had a right to carry out the air strikes on some Al-Qaeda members."
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1168265512181&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
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Ban Ki-moon's warning came as The Associated Press news agency reported more US attacks on suspected al-Qaeda fighters in the country on Tuesday.
A US intelligence official said that five to 10 people were killed in the latest attack.
"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," a UN spokeswoman said.
A Somali politician said 31 civilians, including a newlywed couple, died in Tuesday's assault by two helicopters near Afmadow, a town in an area of forested hills near the Kenyan border 350km southwest of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
A Somali defense ministry official described the helicopters as American, but the local witnesses told The Associated Press they could not make out the identification markings on the aircraft.
Washington officials had no comment on the reported air assault.
More
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/031BB5E1-1344-4445-A11B-9E569F302856.htm
MOGADISHU - Residents reported a new US air strike in southern Somalia on Wednesday but government officials denied the accounts and the Pentagon said it had no information.
Elders in the area where the United States has confirmed hitting an alleged extremist position north of the port of Kismayo said the new attack was launched near the towns of Badade and Afmadow.
"Elders in Badade and Afmadow who made a radio contact with us confirmed there was an American air strike in the same area today," Yusuf Ismail Aden, a resident of Kismayo said in Mogadishu by phone.
"They said they could hear overflights in the morning," he said.
However, Somali Information Minister Ali Jama said he was unaware of any air operations in the area other than those by Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government, which have been underway for weeks.
"There are operations going on in southern Somalia by Ethiopian and Somali forces," he said. "They might be either ground or air."
Somali government spokesman Abdirahim Dinari said the resident accounts were "nonsense."
"It is nonsense," he said. "It is fake news. We do not have any information about the alleged airstrikes. I do not know where these reports ... are coming from."
More
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=19111