U.S. fires missiles at Somalia terror target

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NEW: Pentagon spokesman confirms strike on Somalia town

Somali district commissioner: 3 women, 3 children killed; 20 people wounded

Precision missiles used in strike, U.S. military official says

Resident tells AP: Neighbor's house "completely obliterated"

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From Barbara Starr
CNN Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military struck "a target against a known al Qaeda terrorist" in southern Somalia early Monday, the Pentagon said.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, would not release any other details on the strike, which occurred when it was still late Sunday in Washington.

A U.S. military official told CNN's Barbara Starr that the strike near the town of Dhoobley, close to the Somali-Kenyan border, involved precision missiles.

It was aimed at a "facility where there were known terrorists" affiliated with East African al Qaeda operations, according to the official. It is unclear whether the target was hit in the strike.

While referring details of the strike to the Pentagon, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe stressed that "the United States is going to go after al Qaeda and al Qaeda-affiliated operatives wherever we find them.

"They are plotting and planning all over the world to destabilize the world, to inflict terror, and where we find them, we are going to go after them," he said. Watch CNN's Barbara Starr on missile strike »

U.S. involvement in Somalia
1992: U.S. and other nations send troops in effort to quell wartime famine

1993: Somali militias shoot down U.S. Black Hawk helicopters, killing 18 Army Rangers

1994: U.S. withdraws forces

January 2007: U.S. launches two airstrikes in a month, targeting anti-U.S. fighters

June 2007: U.S. Navy destroyer fires in support of Somali forces attacking militants, according to local official
The strike destroyed two houses -- killing three women and three children, and wounding another 20 people -- Dhoobley's District Commissioner Ali Nur Ali Dherre told CNN. Dherre said the remains of the missiles were marked "US K."

The U.S. military official said the United States is still collecting post-strike information and is not yet able to confirm any casualties.

He described Monday's strike as "very deliberate" and said forces tried to use caution to avoid hitting civilians.

Villagers have fled in fear of another strike, Dherre said.

Fatuma Abdullahi, a resident of the town, told The Associated Press that people "woke up with a loud and big bang."

He said residents found a neighbor's house "completely obliterated as if no house existed here. We are taking shelter under trees. Three planes were flying over our heads."

Clan elder Ahmed Nur Dalab told AP that said a senior Islamic official, Hassan Turki, was in town Sunday to mediate between his fighters and a militia loyal to the government. Turki's forces took over Dhoobley last week, AP reported.

Dherre told CNN he did not know of any Islamist extremists in the village.

The United States conducted similar strikes in southern Somalia in January 2007 against al Qaeda targets, hoping to kill some of the militants suspected in the 1998 attacks against the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

U.S. officials later confirmed they did not believe they achieved that goal.

The 2007 targets also included members of the Islamic Courts Union, who had recently been driven out of power in Somalia by Ethiopian-backed Somali troops.


Washington accuses the Islamic movement of harboring fugitives from the al Qaeda terrorist network, including a suspect in the 1998 embassy bombings.

Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other.

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