- Join the France 24 community here
- Log in
Latest update: 15/09/2009
- Al Shabaab - French military - Islamism - Somalia
US helicopter raid kills al Qaeda target, officials say
US officials have confirmed that a top al Qaeda operative wanted in connection with 2002 terrorist attacks in Mombasa was killed in a US helicopter raid in southern Somalia.
AFP - A top Al-Qaeda operative who figures high on an FBI list of wanted terror suspects was killed in a US military raid in southern Somalia Monday, a US official told AFP.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, named the dead man as Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan wanted for questioning for 2002 attacks in Mombasa on a hotel and an Israeli airliner.
ABC news and Fox News, quoting US officials, said Nabhan was killed when at least one US helicopter fired on a convoy carrying suspected Al-Qaeda targets in southern Somalia earlier Monday.
An American official told ABC that a US Navy ship had been nearby to monitor the situation and provide assistance if needed.
Somali elders and witnesses said foreign military forces onboard four helicopters had staged the raid, opening fire on a vehicle and killing people inside.
The attack was said to have occurred in the small village of Erile, around 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, shortly after 1:30 pm (1030 GMT), the sources said.
The FBI website said prior to Monday's raid that Nabhan should be considered "armed and dangerous."
Sources told ABC that his body was now in US custody.



























