US 'targets al-Qaeda' in Somalia

US air strikes in Somalia are aimed at al-Qaeda leaders in the region, and based on "credible intelligence", a Pentagon spokesman has said.

In its first official comment on the air strikes, the Pentagon said a raid was carried out on Sunday but declined to say if it had hit its target.

The US has long said al-Qaeda suspects linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa took refuge in Somalia.

At least 19 people were killed in US air raids, local Somali elders say.

Fresh air raids have been carried out near the town of Afmadow, 250km further north of Sunday's raid, but it is not clear if these were carried out by the US, or by Ethiopian forces which back the transitional Somali government.

The air strikes are taking place days after the Union of Islamic Courts, which had taken control of much of central and southern Somalia during the past six months, was routed by soldiers from Ethiopia and Somalia's government.

Latest reports from the capital, Mogadishu, say unknown assailants have fired rocket propelled grenades at a building housing Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces. Two explosions were heard, followed by a brief but heavy exchange of automatic gunfire.

Sunday's US attack was carried out by an Air Force AC-130, a heavily-armed gunship that has highly effective detection equipment and can work under the cover of darkness.

This is the first overt military action by the US in Somalia since 1994, the year after 18 US troops were killed in Mogadishu.

Somalia's interim President, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, said the US had the right to bomb those who had attacked its embassies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6245943.stm