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I guess this is so new I havent found a link let but it came across the News Networks just 30 mins ago.
Special OP's AC-130 flew to Somalia after Predator Drones tracked the \"Binny Boys\" running away from the Ethiopian Army pushed them out of
\"MO-GO\" town .The AC-130 flew from its base on the Coast of Africa with one of the Carriers that was pulled out of the Gulf.
Only thing they know right now that \"There was alot of Bodies\" and waiting to hear confirmation on target.

So maybe they got some of the little F--KER'S!

Goose

Gotta love Spectre. That's her specialty. blowing shit up....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/01 ... index.html


U.S. targets al Qaeda suspects in Somalia, Pentagon official says
POSTED: 7:38 p.m. EST, January 8, 2007
From Jamie McIntyre
CNN
Adjust font size:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. aerial gunship has attacked suspected al Qaeda targets in southern Somalia, a senior Pentagon official said Monday.

The AC-130 flew its mission within the last 24 hours, the official told CNN. The operation was launched based on intelligence that al Qaeda operatives were in that location, but there was no immediate indication of how successful the strike had been.

Additionally, the official said, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has moved within striking distance of Somalia, but its jets have not been put to use.


Coach

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,242460,00.html

The United States launched a strike Monday against suspected Al Qaeda members in Somalia, a senior U.S. official informed FOX News.

The attack by the Air Force AC-130 gunship, capable of firing thousands of rounds per second, left casualties on the ground, but it is not clear if any of the dead were targeted terrorists, the official said.

The U.S. could have been targeting two terrorists — Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Saleh Nabhan — who are connected to the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa that left more than 200 dead. Officials have long suspected those involved in the bombings have taken refuge in Somalia.

There may have been a scent of terrorist movement when Al Qaeda operatives taking cover in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu were likely chased out of their hideouts as Ethiopian forces cleared out Islamists who had taken power there.

The move marks the first time the U.S. has mounted a mission in Somalia since forces pulled out in 1994, two years after entering on a mission to feed starving people there. However, due to the bombings, the U.S. has shared intelligence with allies such as Kenya and Ethiopia and this fresh attack could be part of an ongoing anti-terror operation.

The Bush administration has grown increasingly concerned about the threat of terrorism in Africa, so much so that the Defense Department is planning to create a new regional command specifically to focus on Africa.

Over the past decade, the U.S. military has been working to train African armies and has been particularly concerned about lawless states such as Somalia and other failed states where Al Qaeda elements and other terrorist groups have sought haven.

If necessary, the U.S.S. Eisenhower aircraft carrier is also in the region, within striking distance and loaded with firepower, and could be called into action.


I got to see what the Spect can do while stationed in Panama, if it's got something targeted it's pretty much toast

Stupid AP news had it down as a US Navy AC-130 in the newspaper I read this morning

I'm surprised they didn't say it was off the USS Eisenhower that's in the area. Atleast they fixed it on the AP website....

_________________
If it Flys, shoot it

It is still an impressive plane all those flying years long.
Can I tell a story about one of those AC-130 in Vietnam, a little bit history:
A group of soldiers want airsupport by a village. They get the AC-130. The leader of that group talked to the pilot to wave of, he need real and serious airsupport. The pilot told him: \"see you that red thing in the village?\". Groupleader said yes and a few seconds later it was gone. After that they were glad that the AC-130 give them airsupport.

So I can imagine how the damage was in Somalia. Hopely the terrorists are hit by the airstrike.

_________________
73-1664

General feeling is that they'll gather all the remains, put in a barrel, weigh and divide by 90 (lbs) to get a consensus of how many were eliminated.

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

Perhaps someone had a flashback of the test carrier landing and take-off of a C-130, then made the assumption. It's not only the reporters fault for not knowing the facts, it's the editors too for not checking and verifying them. Dolts

Just makes you wonder what would have happened had the Ac-130 been there during black hawk down. We might have made them think twice about f---kin with use on september 11.

Apparently we have ground forces in the fighting over there now too.

Nothing like a good-ole' fashioned unauthorized war to start the new year off right.

sounds like they might have got what they went in after

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070110/ap_on_re_af/somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A senior al-Qaida suspect wanted for bombing American embassies in East Africa was killed in a U.S. airstrike, a Somali official said Wednesday, a report that if confirmed would mean the end of an eight-year hunt for a top target of Washington's war on terrorism.

_________________
If it Flys, shoot it

I sure hope this isnt a \"Wag the Dog\" deal.
I know some of these guys were BAD SOB,s But, the timing is just too lets say
Prefect.
When did we start assisting and using SOP's with the Ethiopians? Why didnt we do that in 93?
This reminds me of the \"Terror Alert Colors\", anytime they wanted to
\"Cover something up \" they used the \"Orange\" alert.

So lets see where it all leads. But it is an Unauthorized Military Action, even under the War Powers Act leaders of Congress have to be briefed before US Ground troops are Deployed.

Not saying this isnt a \"Good Thing\" if we can mop up this F--ker's there then GOOD!

I just dont like the timing or smell.

Goose

We've been there for a while...JTF Horn of Africa. This is not new or subversive.

Coach

My Bad Coach.

Goose

The whole thing is probably covered under the \"GWoT\" authorization, which is about as blank a check to conduct war anywhere he see's fit as any president will ever get.

Ethiopian, U.S. pursue Somalia al-Qaida

By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 52 minutes ago

NAIROBI, Kenya - Ethiopian and U.S. forces were in pursuit of three top al-Qaida suspects Thursday, with a senior U.S. official confirming that none of them were killed in a U.S. airstrike and were believed to still be in Somalia.

The official in Kenya, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to address the media, said U.S. special operations forces were focused solely on tracking down the suspected terrorists and not members of the Somali Islamic movement that had challenged the country's government for power.

A day earlier, Abdirizak Hassan, the Somali president's chief of staff, said a U.S. intelligence report had referred to the death of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, one of the three senior al-Qaida members blamed for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

But the U.S. official said he was confident none of the three top al-Qaida suspects believed to be in Somalia was killed in the airstrike Monday.

\"The three high-value targets are still of intense interest to us,\" the official said. \"What we're doing is still ongoing, we're still in pursuit, us and the Ethiopians.\"

The official also contradicted numerous statements by Somali government officials in recent days, saying the U.S. had carried out just one airstrike and only eight to 10 militants with ties to al-Qaida were killed. He said subsequent reports of more airstrikes and civilian casualties were rumors and disinformation spread by the Islamic extremists.

Michael E. Ranneberger, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya, also told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday that Fazul had not been killed.

U.S. and Somali officials said Wednesday that U.S. special forces were in Somalia hunting al-Qaida fighters and providing military advice to Ethiopian and Somali forces. The U.S. forces entered the country last month when Ethiopia launched its attack against the Islamic movement, one of the officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Most of the Islamic militiamen have since dispersed, but a few hardcore members have fled to Somalia's southernmost point between the Kenyan border and the Indian Ocean.

The U.S. has repeatedly accused the group of harboring three top terror suspects wanted in connection with the 1998 embassy bombings: Fazul, Abu Talha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.

The
U.S. Navy has moved additional forces into waters off the Somali coast, where they have monitored maritime traffic and interrogated crews on suspicious ships in international waters.

The U.S. official in Kenya said Kenyan naval forces had set up a blockade along the sea border to make sure no suspected terrorists could infiltrate the country. The Kenyan army is also intercepting suspects trying to sneak across the land border, which is closed, he added.

Earlier this week, police at the Kenyan coastal border town of Kiunga arrested the wives and children of two of the embassy bombing suspects after they managed to slip across the frontier, according to an internal police report seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Somali and Ethiopian forces skirmished with Islamic militiamen in the far south of Somalia on Thursday as part of mop-up operations against the fighters.

One resident in the area, Mosa Aden Hersi, said there were numerous militant and civilian casualties in the fighting. \"We saw the dead bodies of 17 men in military uniform under a small hill, but we do not know their identity,\" he said by two-way radio.

The remote, forested area has few residents and high-frequency radio is the only reliable form of communications.

The Ethiopian Information Ministry said its military had also launched helicopter and troop attacks around the town of Dhobley, about four miles from the Kenyan border.

A Somali human rights group said Thursday that thousands of Somalis fleeing the fighting were now stranded on the Kenyan border, which has been closed.

\"Thousands are in a bad condition and they do not have food and water. They are stranded at the border after Kenya closed it and they cannot go back to their houses for two reasons: the ongoing airstrikes and lack of transportation,\" said Ali Bashi, chairman of the Fanole group.

The Red Cross said more than 850 wounded people, both civilians and soldiers, have been treated at medical facilities since fighting began last month.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other. The interim government was established with the help of the
United Nations in 2004.

___

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Pauline Jelinek in Washington; Salad Duhul and Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia; and Nasteex Dahir Farah in Kismayo, Somalia, contributed to this report.