US strikes on Somalia 'missed target'
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 12 January 2007
The US air strike in Somalia missed its main target of three senior 
al-Qa'ida members, American officials admitted yesterday, as concern 
continued to grow over the rising numbers of casualties from the conflict.

A day after widespread publicity over claims that a "surgical" attack had 
killed Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, allegedly involved with the bombing of the 
US embassy in Nairobi, it emerged that neither he, nor two other suspects, 
Abu Taiha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, were among the dead.

US officials insisted the 10 people who were killed in the raid in southern 
Somalia were Islamist allies of al-Qa'ida. But a local MP, Abdelgadir Haji, 
claimed there had been far larger scale civilian casualties inflicted by the 
Americans and their Ethiopian allies.

Mr Haji said: "The number of the dead we have confirmed until now is 150 
dead. But, every day, new reports are coming in and that number is expected 
to rise.

"America strikes from the air. Ethiopian tanks are coming in over land and 
the Kenyan border is closed. The people have no escape. Hundreds of cattle 
were killed and no aid is being allowed over the border. It is a hellish 
situation."

In Nairobi an American official said: "The three high-value targets are of 
intense interest to us. What we are doing is still ongoing. We are still in 
pursuit, us and the Ethiopians." US officials also contradicted a number of 
statements by members of Somalia's transitional federal government about 
American involvement in the conflict. They maintained that US aircraft had 
carried out just one raid and reports of subsequent air strikes were false.

According to separate, unconfirmed, reports Mohammed and Nabhan's wives and 
children were caught trying to cross into Kenya from Ras Kamboni, on 
Somalia's southern tip.

The International Committee of the Red Cross urged all sides in the conflict 
to spare civilians. It voiced concern at the growing number of victims and 
said 850 wounded had been admitted to medical facilities in Somalia in 
recent weeks. An ICRC spokesman said: "Obviously this concerns the US as 
they are involved in air strikes there. Our message is also to the Somali 
transitional authority, to the Ethiopian forces and Islamist fighters on the 
ground."
Also in this section
US 'kills embassy bomber' in Somalia air strikes
Pakistani military experts strengthen Mugabe's army
What this means for a region consumed by war and chaos
British nationals accused of funding Islamist fighters in Horn of Africa
'Many dead' as US bombers return to Somalia to attack 'al-Qa'ida suspects'

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