Team America Strikes!

[Mule]

US Reportedly Bombs Somalia
May 26, 2008
Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Airstrikes, possibly by U.S. planes, caused explosions in a remote area in southern Somalia, officials said May 26. There was no immediate information on casualties.

A U.S. military official said she had no information about U.S. planes' activity in Somalia.

Buale town chairman Ibrahim Noleye said planes were heard flying nearby Sunday night, followed by two loud explosions that shook the ground. Buale is 255 miles southwest of the capital, Mogadishu.

Noleye said he had contacted officials in nearby villages, who told him by two-way radio that the planes had hit an area between Buale and another town called Sakow.

He said he could not say who launched May 25 nighttime strike. But only U.S. aircraft have launched such strikes in Somalia in recent months. The Somali government does not have an air force. Ethiopian troops based in Somalia have not been reported to conduct airstrikes.

U.S. Navy Commander Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the Navy Central Command in Bahrain, said she had no information about any activity by U.S. planes in Somalia.

"We saw a big light which followed hours of the sounds of planes, and then we heard two big explosions between Buale, where we are, and Sakow," Noleye told The Associated Press by telephone.

The area is sparsely populated and used primarily for grazing livestock such as camel and goats.

"We contacted some of our people on the ground and they confirmed that it was a(n) (air)strike," Noleye said, adding that soon afterward they lost radio contact.

Ali Bashi Ahmed, chairman of Fanole Human Rights Organization, also said he heard loud explosions, but did not know where they had occurred. Ahmed spoke by telephone from the port town of Kismayo, southwest of Buale.

Duale Ganane, a colonel and a commander of a local militia, said, "we saw a light just a second before three huge explosions in the jungle north of Buale."

Aid worker Hassan Mohamed, who asked that his agency not be identified, said: "the light was like a star falling to earth."

Former military officer Muhidiin Nur Salah said, "I think it was an unknown device because in my view point no one can see a missile coming ... and we cannot say it was a star because stars do not explode on the ground."

American officials confirmed a U.S. airstrike on May 1 that killed Aden Hashi Ayro, the head of the military wing of Somalia's Islamists, along with 24 other people. Members of the military wing called al-Shabab, meaning "The Youth," have vowed to avenge his death.

Somalia has been in a state of anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. In December 2006, neighboring Ethiopia sent troops to prop up a U.N.-backed government that has been unable to assert much authority and is facing an insurgency in the capital, Mogadishu.

Thousands of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes in a burgeoning humanitarian crisis.

[Joeaksa]

Couldnt happen to a nicer bunch of terrorists!

Between their fighting on the ground and hiding Al Queida, and hijacking ships in this area off of the coast, these terrorists need to be taken out!

[legion]

America, F*** YEAH!

[Mule]

Language warning!

[livi]

This will wake up Ridley Scott.

[Hugh R]

Ok, why are we attacking Somalia? There are terrorists there? Whom are they terrorizing?

I think the US needs to keep out of other countries civil wars. Similarly, I remember in the 80s under Reagan we were mining Minauga harbor in Guatamela because Daniel Ortega was a communist. He's now the president of Guatemala again, by hook or by crook (mostly crook) but he made a good point back then about how would the USA feel if Guatemala took it upon itself to start mining New York Harbor? If they aren't directly plotting against us or our allies, we should let them duke it out themselves. We should not be the cops of the world.

[Joeaksa]

Hugh,

The terrorists are using Somalia as a base to attack our forces from. The French also just sent a raiding party there a month ago after they lost a ship to pirates. Waited until the crew had been released and swooped in catching 6 of the pirates and a good amount of the loot.

Like you I do not condone opening a new front but if left alone this one is going to continue to fester and get worse. Occasional strikes here when we are sure that its knocking out a high value target are far better than letting them stage here for more attacks.