Somali official: U.S. attacks al Qaeda terrorists

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- U.S. helicopter gunships attacked suspected al Qaeda terrorists hiding in Somalia on Tuesday, a Somali official said.

The operation came a day after U.S. Special Operations forces launched at least two air attacks against suspected al Qaeda members in this restive Horn of Africa country.

The attack helicopters were trying to kill Islamic extremists, said a defense ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak.

Earlier, Somalia's president had said the U.S. was hunting suspects in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa, and had his support.  ...

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Somali Official Reports Another U.S. Airstrike on Al Qaeda Members

MOGADISHU, Somalia  —  U.S. helicopter gunships attacked suspected Al Qaeda terrorists hiding in Somalia Tuesday, a Somali official said, a day after U.S. Special Operations forces launched at least two air attacks against suspected Al Qaeda members in this restive Horn of Africa country.

Earlier, a U.S. military official said 'at least a couple' of Al Qaeda suspects were taken out in an airstrike conducted by Special Operations forces in southern Somalia. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the operation's sensitivity.

The attack helicopters were trying to kill Islamic extremists, said a defense ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. Earlier, Somalia's president had said the U.S. was hunting suspects in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa, and had his support.

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PJM: U.S. forces operating in Somalia since last month
Allahpundit

CIA, Special Forces, and Marines — all part of the first group in, according to a senior military intelligence official. Not a shock, but reassuring to know.

Pajamas Media previously reported that Ethiopia’s use of helicopter gunships capable of targeting the Islamic Courts Union’s ground forces was a decisive factor in the army-to-army fighting against the ICU. A senior military intelligence source says that some of the gunships earlier described as Ethiopian were in fact U.S. aircraft. This has been confirmed by Dahir Jibreel, the transitional government’s permanent secretary in charge of international cooperation, who said that U.S. planes and helicopters with their markings obscured have been striking targets since December 25.

This part seems sketchy, but here you go:

Pajamas Media has learned that there have been high-level communications between ICU affiliates in Ras Kamboni and al-Qaeda’s central leadership. A senior military intelligence officer told Pajamas Media that Ayman al-Zawahiri’s January 5 tape calling for his followers to flock to Somalia to fight alongside the ICU was a result of a plea by a well-connected terrorist figure in Ras Kamboni, most likely Abu Talha al-Sudani, the head of al-Qaeda’s East Africa operations. ...

There's more. Read the whole thing.