Assault presses ahead in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Attack helicopters strafed suspected Al Qaeda fighters in southern Somalia yesterday, according to witnesses, following two days of air strikes by US forces -- the first American offensives in the African country since 18 American soldiers were killed here in 1993.

In Washington, a US intelligence official said American forces killed five to 10 people in an attack on one target in southern Somalia believed to be associated with Al Qaeda. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the operation's sensitivity, said a small number of others present, perhaps four or five, were wounded.

A Somali lawmaker said 31 civilians, including a newlywed couple, died in yesterday's assault by two helicopters near Afmadow, a town in a forested area close to the Kenyan border. The report could not be independently verified.

A Somali Defense Ministry official described the helicopters as American, but witnesses said they could not make out identification markings on the craft. Washington officials had no comment on the helicopter strike.

The United States is hunting Islamic extremists, said the Somali defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Earlier, Somalia's president said the United States was pursuing suspects in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in East Africa, and that the effort has his support.

Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies were attacked in the capital late Tuesday by gunmen riding in two pickup trucks who fired two rocket-propelled grenades, witnesses said.

The rocket attack was followed by several minutes of rifle fire. One Somali soldier was killed, and two other soldiers and a bystander were wounded, said minibus driver Harun Ahmed, who took the injured to a hospital.

Colonel Shino Moalin Nur, a Somali military commander, said by telephone late yesterday that at least one US AC-130 gunship attacked a suspected Al Qaeda training camp Sunday on a remote island at the southern tip of Somalia next to Kenya.

Somali officials said they had reports of many deaths.

On Monday, witnesses and Nur said, more US air strikes were launched against Islamic extremists in Hayi, 30 miles from Afmadow. Nur said attacks continued yesterday.

"Nobody can exactly explain what is going on inside these forested areas," the Somali commander said. "However, we are receiving reports that most of the Islamist fighters have died and the rest would be captured soon."

In Washington yesterday, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman spoke of one strike in southern Somalia, but would not confirm any of the details or say whether any Al Qaeda militants were killed.

The assault was based on intelligence "that led us to believe we had principal Al Qaeda leaders in an area where we could identify them and take action against them," Whitman said.

Somali Islamic extremists are accused of sheltering suspects in the 1998 embassy bombings. American officials also want to ensure the militants no longer pose a threat to Somalia's UN-backed transitional government.

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has arrived off Somalia's coast and launched intelligence-gathering missions over Somalia, the US military said. Three other US warships were conducting anti-terror operations.

US warships have been seeking to capture Al Qaeda members thought to be fleeing Somalia by sea after Ethiopia's military invaded Dec. 24 in support of the interim Somali government. The offensive drove the Islamic militia out of much of southern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, and toward the Kenyan border.