Washington, September 16: Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab extremist group has acknowledged that one of its commanders was killed in a US military raid, SITE Intelligence Group said.
The monitoring group said members of the extremist movement recognized the death of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan citizen wanted by the FBI over the 2002 anti-Israeli attacks in Mombasa, and a group of Shebab fighters in a statement posed on “jihadist forums.”
In a posting on the Global Islamic Media Front website, the Shebab “indicated that six helicopters initially participated in the attack and fired ‘heavily and in a focused manner’ on a car driven by the fighters,” SITE said.
“They said that two of the helicopters landed and then these fighters responded to them in an hour-long clash, but were overwhelmed by the four other helicopters.”
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Monday that US forces had participated in the airborne raid targeting Nabhan in southern Somalia. The regional governor said Tuesday that three Somali civilians had also been killed in the attack.
The rare operation, which witnesses said involved several helicopters, dealt a blow to Al-Qaeda’s operations in East Africa but the Shebab pledged to strike back.
–Agencies