New Gunbattles Erupt in Mogadishu
10 January 2007
Somali government officials are reporting four new U.S. airstrikes in southern Somalia, in areas where Islamist fighters are believed to be hiding.
The officials say the attacks took place Wednesday around Ras Kamboni, a rugged area on the Somali coast near the border with Kenya.
There has been no U.S. confirmation of the attacks.
The U.S. military has confirmed that an American AC-130 warplane attacked a suspected al-Qaida hideout in southern Somalia on Monday. Washington says it had intelligence that the top al-Qaida leaders in East Africa were at that site.
Somali officials also report new gunbattles today in the capital, Mogadishu, where gunmen attacked an area housing Ethiopian and Somali government troops.
The officials say at least one person was killed in the fighting in the capital's southern K4 neighborhood. On Tuesday, assailants attacked Ethiopian and Somali government troops in the same area with rocket-propelled grenades.
Government troops and their Ethiopian backers drove the Islamists from Mogadishu last month, but some militiamen are still in the capital.
Monday's air strike is the first acknowledged U.S. military action in Somalia since 1994. Somali officials say scores of people were killed in the U.S. raid, but it is not clear if al-Qaida operatives were among the dead.
The United Nations Security Council is due to meet today to discuss the latest developments in Somalia.
Diplomats are trying to assemble a peacekeeping force for the war-torn Horn of Africa nation. Ethiopian troops supporting the interim government are scheduled to leave within the next few weeks.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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