The AP, via the Haaretz, reports the following:
A senior al-Qaida suspect wanted for bombing United States embassies in East Africa has been killed in a U.S. airstrike, a Somali official said Wednesday, quoting an American report, as his government called for American ground forces to flush out any remaining extremists.
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, one of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists who has evaded capture for eight years, was killed in an airstrike early Monday morning time, according to an American intelligence report passed on to the Somali authorities. He was allegedly harbored by a Somali Islamic movement that had challenged this country’s Ethiopian-backed government for power.
[…]
In Washington, a U.S. intelligence official said the U.S. killed five to 10 people in the attack on a target in southern Somalia believed to be associated with al-Qaida. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the operation’s sensitivity, said a small number of others present, perhaps four or five, were wounded.Hassan said at least three U.S. airstrikes have been launched since Monday and that more are likely. He also said local intelligence reports indicated Abdirahman Janaqow, one of the deputy leaders of the rival Islamic movement, had also been killed in the attack.
If confirmed / true, this is a major success for the U.S. in the war against terrorism (yes, I still refuse the word ‘terror’ in this respect).
More:
Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed said U.S. special forces are needed on the ground as government forces backed by Ethiopia are unable to capture the last remaining hideouts of suspected extremists.
“The only way we are going to kill or capture the surviving al-Qaida
terrorists is for U.S. special forces to go in on the ground,” Aideed, a former U.S. Marine said. “They have the know-how and the right equipment to capture these people.”
Somalia’s President said that “the U.S. attack had his support”, which is not exactly a surprise.
If Fazul Abdullah Mohammed has been killed (and it seems to be true as Ed points out), it is not only a major success for the U.S. (and the West as a whole) in the war against terrorism, but it might also silence – for a while – those who criticized American involvement in the war against Islamists in Somalia. A major public success might be all the Bush administration needs to send in some special forces to assist the Ethiopian and Somali troops, with popular support.
The Islamists in Somalia are on the run, they suffer (literal) blow after blow… after all the bad news coming from Iraq, the problems with Iran, etc. this is finally a battle against Islamists that seems to be going just fine.
The time seems to be right for U.S. special forces to go in, especially considering the fact that Somalia’s leaders have requested it. Besides that, I’m still waiting for European countries to respond.
JP, how will we help permanently beat the Islamists in Somalia and how will we help rebuild that ruined country?
More at:
Gateway Pundit
Dr. Steven Taylor
Hugh Hewitt
H/t Holly
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