Mohammed allegedly trained with Osama bin Laden in
Afghanistan
|
The US air
strikes in Somalia failed to kill any of the three al-Qaeda
suspects they targeted, a top US official says.
The three
were wanted in connection with the 1998 bombing of US embassies in
East Africa and a 2002 attack on Israeli targets in Kenya.
Somali
officials had earlier reported that one of the men had been
killed.
The US accused
Somalia's routed Islamist group of harbouring the three - charges
they denied. The air strikes have been strongly criticised.
The US
official, who refused to be named, however said that Somalis with
close ties to al-Qaeda had been killed.
Earlier, US
ambassador to Kenya and Somalia Michael Ranneberger told the BBC
that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed had not been killed, contradicting
Wednesday's reports.
Ambassador
Michael Ranneberger also strongly denied reports that a number of
civilians had died in the attack.
Washington has
dismissed criticism of its first overt military action in Somalia
since 1994, saying it was necessary to defend the US and the
international community from further al-Qaeda attacks.
Kenyan
intelligence sources said on Wednesday that Mr Mohammed's wife and
the wife of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, also wanted by the FBI for an
attack in East Africa in 2002, had been arrested in Kenya after
fleeing the coastal Somali town of Ras Kamboni.
The US
government is offering a $5 million reward for the capture of Mr
Mohammed.
The Islamists
took control of much of southern Somalia last year before being
routed by Ethiopian and Somali government forces in recent weeks.
Since taking
control of the capital, Mogadishu, BBC reporter Ahmed Idawaqaca
says security forces have arrested about 40 Ethiopians of Oromo
origin, killing one of them. Another Oromo person has been killed
in Jowhar in a similar round-up.
Oromo refugees
have been living in the country for the last 14 years after Oromo
rebels took up arms against the Addis Ababa government.
'Inclusive government'
A local Somali MP said 27 civilians had
died in recent air strikes near Afmadow.
But Mr Ranneberger denied this.
 |
HAVE YOUR SAY
I cannot believe the US has launched air strikes
against Somalia 
|
"It's been
troubling to see these reports about bombing and all these
activities killing civilians, I can tell you categorically that no
civilians were killed or injured as a result of that action,"
he said.
Residents of
Afmadow town and Ras Kamboni reported further attacks on Tuesday
and Wednesday but Mr Ranneberger said these had not been carried
out by US forces.
Reports suggest
Ethiopian MiG fighters and helicopter gunships seen in the city of
Kismayo may be involved.
Ethiopian
forces have been at the forefront of the drive against Somalia's
Islamists, who deny charges they had been sheltering al-Qaeda
operatives.
Mr
Ranneberger also said the US would support moderate Islamists
participating in a Somali government of national unity, as long as
they rejected violence.
"We think
that all Somalis who renounce violence and extremism have a role
to play in the future of the country," he said.
Bodies
On Wednesday,
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said several terror suspects
had been either killed or captured in the strikes.
He told
reporters Ethiopian forces had gone to the scene of Monday's US
raid and collected the dead and wounded.
He said those killed "may have
involved very senior Islamist court leaders".
The UK
Foreign Office is currently investigating reports that Britons are
among those killed in the fighting after Somali officials said
they had found a variety of international passports on the bodies
of dead Islamist fighters.
The United
Nations Security Council on Wednesday again backed plans to send
African peacekeepers into Somalia to help protect the transitional
government, enabling Ethiopian forces to withdraw.
The
initiative was agreed before the Union of Islamic Courts' militia
were ousted by Ethiopian-backed government forces.
The Security
Council also supported sending a UN humanitarian mission to the
Kenya-Somalia border.
Aid workers
report that more 1,000 people have been wounded since fighting
erupted in December.
However,
there is no reliable information on casualties in the current
fighting in the remote south.
Correspondents
say the situation on the ground in southern Somalia remains
unclear, with communications in the area poor.
