Soob

The first illustrated case of direct US involvement in Somalia, as reported here:
The US military has launched two air attacks on suspected al-Qa'eda agents believed to be hiding with Somalia's defeated Islamists, the first direct US intervention in the country since the Black Hawk Down debacle in 1993.

An AC-130 warplane armed with state-of-the-art tracking sensors and heavy cannons capable of firing more than 1,800 rounds a minute hit two villages in southern Somalia late yesterday.

Witnesses reported "many dead" following the first attack in Ras Kamboni, close to Somalia's border with Kenya.

It was unclear whether the casualties in included Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan or Abu Taha al-Sudani. They are believed to be behind the 1998 al-Qa'eda-linked bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, when more than 250 people were killed after two coordinated truck blasts...

I've heard a lot of downplaying the evidence of al qaeda in Somalia, lately. While this airstrike (not to mention the maneuvering of the Eisenhower to a position off Somalias coast) doesn't exactly close the case it does illustrate the level of attention this region is receiving. More on this later.