Somalia 'air strike kills foreign al-Shabab militants'

BBC ^ | 24 February 2012 | Wire

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A huge air strike in al-Shabab-held southern Somalia has killed at least six people, including some foreigners, eyewitnesses have told the BBC. The strike destroyed two vehicles in a convoy in an area known as K60 because it is around 60km (35 miles) south of the capital, Mogadishu, they say.

It is not clear who carried out the strike. Al-Shabab recently announced it was joining al-Qaeda and is said to have some 200 foreign fighters.

The BBC's Mohamed Dhore in the capital says the blast is far bigger than any carried out by Kenyan forces which have recently moved into some of the areas of southern Somalia controlled by al-Shabab. Eyewitnesses say it was heard many miles away.

Deserters?

The US military, which has a military base in neighbouring Djibouti, has previously carried out drone strikes in Somalia.

It has also launched air strikes against alleged al-Qaeda militants in the country. BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says a number of air strikes have been reported in recent months but for now no-one seems prepared to own up to them - possibility because of the potential backlash should civilians be killed.

Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohammed Ali on Thursday called for air strikes against al-Shabab as long as civilians were not harmed.

He was speaking at a major conference in London to discuss ways of ending two decades of conflict in Somalia. But at the same event, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that air strikes were not a good idea and there was no reason to believe anyone was considering them. "That air strike is not from our end," Kenyan army spokesman Col Cyrus Oguna told the AFP news agency.

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Good.

[gore_sux]

I wonder how many of these “foreign fighters” are from Minnesota?

[AppyPappy]

And voted for Obama