WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military launched a strike Monday against three suspected members of al-Qaida in Somalia, one of whom is linked to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 250 people, media outlets reported Monday.
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The targets, according to the Los Angeles Times and CBS News, included the senior al-Qaida leader in East Africa and an al-Qaida operative wanted for his involvement in the embassy attacks.
Citing Pentagon sources, the Times and CBS reported that an Air Force AC-130 gunship led the attack against the site at the southern tip of Somalia. There was no confirmation that the Air Force had killed any of the al-Qaida targets.
U.S. officials have secretly been negotiating with Somalian clans that are thought to have sheltered the three men, hoping to get information about their locations.
CIA, FBI and military teams have been tracking the men, particularly their alleged leader, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, for years, but they have proved elusive.
U.S. officials and their African and European allies in the negotiations believe that one Somalian sub-clan in particular has been harboring Mohammed and his associates, whom the U.S. describes as the leaders of an East Africa al-Qaida cell. Mohammed faces terror charges in the U.S. that could bring a death penalty if he is captured and convicted.
Mohammed, who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was indicted in 1998 by a federal grand jury along with Osama bin Laden and others for his alleged role in the embassy bombings.
Source:http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070109/LOCAL17/701090397/-1/ZONES04
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