No top Al-Qaeda suspects killed in Somalia air strike - US official UPDATE |
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Published
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Thu, 11 Jan 2007 15:52
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(Updating with further quotes, details, local reports of 100 people killed in airstrikes)NAIROBI (AFX) - None of the three top Al-Qaeda suspects in Somalia sought by the United States were killed in a US airstrike this week in the south of the country, a senior US official said today.'The three high-value targets are still of intense interest to us as well as other Al-Qaeda affiliates,' the official told reporters on condition of anonymity in Nairobi, in neighbouring Kenya.The official said there had been only one US airstrike, on Monday, and that it resulted in no civilian casualties and that the three suspects had not been the primary target of the raid.'They were not the primary targets. One of the group (that was hit) was a significant Al-Qaeda affiliated figure,' the official said.'It was a targeted strike at a group of Al-Qaeda-connected or Al-Qaeda-affiliated people. There were a number of people killed as a result of the strike, but it is too early to say who those people were,' he added.'One thing I am sure of is that no civilians were killed.'However, clan elders and residents in the bombed region close to the Kenyan border have reported about 100 people killed. So far they said they have accounted for 29 bodies, some burned beyond recognition, in more than one airstrike.Among Al-Qaeda militants held to be in Somalia are Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, whom the United States blame for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, mostly Africans.Another suspect is Abu Taha al-Sudani, a Sudanese alleged to be an explosives expert close to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and who the Somali government claimed led Islamist fighters in recent battles.'Fazul is not dead. We have a variety of assets in the area (and) we have reasons to believe that he is not dead,' the official said.The official denied reports that there are small numbers of US special forces in Somalia.'No,' he replied, when asked about the presence of such US soldiers, 'not that I am aware off and I would be aware.'newsdesk@afxnews.comafp/cmrCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
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No top Al-Qaeda suspects killed in Somalia air strike - US official 