Saturday, July 2, 2011
African Union peacekeepers from Uganda, wearing their campaign medals, prepare to leave Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday July 1, 2011. A new 3,000- string African Union force is to replace them. Somalia's Defense Minister Abdulhakim Mohamoud Haji Faqi said U.S.military forces landed in Somalia to retrieve the bodies of dead or wounded militants after a U.S. drone strike targeted insurgents last week, and that he wants the U.S. to carry out more strikes against al-Qaida-linked militants. U.S. officials have increased their warnings that the threat from al-Shabab is growing
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Nairobi, Kenya -- U.S. military forces landed in Somalia to retrieve the bodies of dead or wounded militants after a U.S. drone strike targeted a group of insurgents, Somalia's defense minister said Friday.
The operation is at least the second time U.S. troops have landed in Somalia after a targeted strike, though no forces have been stationed there since shortly after the "Black Hawk Down" battle that left 18 Americans dead in 1993.
Defense Minister Abdulhakim Mohamoud Haji Faqi called on the United States to carry out more air strikes against the al Qaeda-linked militants, though he admitted that Somali officials appear not to have been informed about the June 23 operation near the southern coastal town of Kismayo beforehand.
"But we are not complaining about that. Absolutely not. We welcome it," Faqi said. "We understand the U.S.'s need to quickly act on its intelligence on the ground," he said. U.S. officials have increased their warnings that the threat from Somalia's al-Shabab militant group is growing and that militants are developing stronger ties with the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The operation is at least the second time U.S. troops have landed in Somalia after a targeted strike, though no forces have been stationed there since shortly after the "Black Hawk Down" battle that left 18 Americans dead in 1993.
Defense Minister Abdulhakim Mohamoud Haji Faqi called on the United States to carry out more air strikes against the al Qaeda-linked militants, though he admitted that Somali officials appear not to have been informed about the June 23 operation near the southern coastal town of Kismayo beforehand.
"But we are not complaining about that. Absolutely not. We welcome it," Faqi said. "We understand the U.S.'s need to quickly act on its intelligence on the ground," he said. U.S. officials have increased their warnings that the threat from Somalia's al-Shabab militant group is growing and that militants are developing stronger ties with the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/01/MNBC1K5E3T.DTL#ixzz1QwycemBi
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