>>
>US strikes on Somalia 'missed target'
>By Kim Sengupta
>Published: 12 January 2007
>The US air strike in Somalia missed its main target of three senior 
>al-Qa'ida members, American officials admitted yesterday, as concern 
>continued to grow over the rising numbers of casualties from the conflict.
>
>A day after widespread publicity over claims that a "surgical" attack had 
>killed Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, allegedly involved with the bombing of the 
>US embassy in Nairobi, it emerged that neither he, nor two other suspects, 
>Abu Taiha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, were among the dead.
>
>US officials insisted the 10 people who were killed in the raid in southern 
>Somalia were Islamist allies of al-Qa'ida. But a local MP, Abdelgadir Haji, 
>claimed there had been far larger scale civilian casualties inflicted by 
>the Americans and their Ethiopian allies.
>
>Mr Haji said: "The number of the dead we have confirmed until now is 150 
>dead. But, every day, new reports are coming in and that number is expected 
>to rise.
>
>"America strikes from the air. Ethiopian tanks are coming in over land and 
>the Kenyan border is closed. The people have no escape. Hundreds of cattle 
>were killed and no aid is being allowed over the border. It is a hellish 
>situation."
>
>In Nairobi an American official said: "The three high-value targets are of 
>intense interest to us. What we are doing is still ongoing. We are still in 
>pursuit, us and the Ethiopians." US officials also contradicted a number of 
>statements by members of Somalia's transitional federal government about 
>American involvement in the conflict. They maintained that US aircraft had 
>carried out just one raid and reports of subsequent air strikes were false.
>
>According to separate, unconfirmed, reports Mohammed and Nabhan's wives and 
>children were caught trying to cross into Kenya from Ras Kamboni, on 
>Somalia's southern tip.
>
>The International Committee of the Red Cross urged all sides in the 
>conflict to spare civilians. It voiced concern at the growing number of 
>victims and said 850 wounded had been admitted to medical facilities in 
>Somalia in recent weeks. An ICRC spokesman said: "Obviously this concerns 
>the US as they are involved in air strikes there. Our message is also to 
>the Somali transitional authority, to the Ethiopian forces and Islamist 
>fighters on the ground."
>Also in this section
>US 'kills embassy bomber' in Somalia air strikes
>Pakistani military experts strengthen Mugabe's army
>What this means for a region consumed by war and chaos
>British nationals accused of funding Islamist fighters in Horn of Africa
>'Many dead' as US bombers return to Somalia to attack 'al-Qa'ida suspects'
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Be the first to hear what's new at MSN - sign up to our free newsletters!  
>http://www.msn.co.uk/newsletters
>
>¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L 
>Web interface
>at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
>
>To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: 
>http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
>To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
>[log in to unmask]
>¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Hotmail is evolving – check out the new Windows Live Mail 
http://ideas.live.com

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤