Thread: US Twin raid, Somalia and Libya.

U.S. commando twin raids hit ‘high-value’ terrorism targets in Somalia, Libya

Tony G. Gabriel, Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press | 05/10/13 | Last Updated: 07/10/13 1:49 AM ET

A Kenyan policeman walks through the remains of the Nakumatt supermarket in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi last Tuesday. A Somalia raid was planned more than a week ago in response to the massacre by Al-Shabab.

A Somalia raid was planned more than a week ago in response to the massacre by Al-Shabab.

The suspected al-Qaeda figure nabbed by U.S. special forces in a dramatic operation in the Libyan capital had been living freely in his homeland after his return there three years ago, his family said. Libya’s government asked for an explanation Sunday from the United States after the Americans seized Abu Anas al-Libi from a Tripoli street outside his home and whisked him out of the country.

FBI
FBINazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known as Abu Anas al-Libi, who was indicted in 2000 in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

In a statement, the Libyan government said it “contacted the American authorities and asked it to present clarifications” regarding the al-Libi abduction. It also said it hoped the incident would not impact its strategic relationship with the United States.

The raid that captured al-Libi was one of two dramatic American raids on the ground in African countries targeting suspected terrorists on Saturday. In Somalia, a Navy SEAL team swam ashore early the same day and engaged in a fierce firefight, thought it did not capture its target, a militant suspected in the recent Kenyan mall siege.

The operations – one in North Africa, the other in the Horn of Africa – were a startling move to pursue terror suspects directly in two countries mired in chaos where the United States has suffered bloody humiliations in the past.

“We hope that this makes clear that the United States of America will never stop in the effort to hold those accountable who conduct acts of terror,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday while in Indonesia for an economic summit. “Members of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations literally can run but they can’t hide.”

The Pentagon identified the figure seized in the Libyan capital Saturday as Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known by his alias Abu Anas al-Libi, who is accused by the U.S. of involvement in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa. He has been on the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list since it was introduced shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. There was a $5 million bounty on his head.



The U.S. Defense Department’s chief spokesman, George Little, said the suspect is “lawfully detained under the law of war in a secure location outside of Libya.” Little’s statement did not elaborate.

Al-Libi was indicted by a federal court in New York for his alleged role in the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, on August 7, 1998, that killed more than 220 people.

But it was not immediately clear if he had been involved with al-Qaida since or had been connected to militant activities in Libya, where al-Qaida has a growing presence since the 2011 ouster of Moammar Gadhafi.

His family denied he was ever a member of al-Qaida and said he was not involved in militant activity since his return.

Al-Libi’s son Abdullah al-Ruqai told The Associated press his father was a member of the Armed Islamic Fighting Group, an Islamic militant group that battled Gadhafi’s regime, many of whose members were forced to flee the country in the 1990s. Some members later linked with al-Qaida, but others did not. Abdullah said his father and the family were in Afghanistan for about a year in and half in the early 2000s.


Al-Libi was then imprisoned in Iran for seven years, Abdullah said. He did not elaborate, but Iran jailed a number of al-Qaeda-linked figures who fled Afghanistan after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of that country.

The family returned to Tripoli in 2010 under a rehabilitation program run by Gadhafi’s son. Since then, al-Libi was not involved with any groups. “He would go from the house to the mosque, and from the mosque to the house,” the son said. He said his father had hired a lawyer and was trying to clear his name in connection to the 1998 African embassy attacks.

A senior U.S. military official said the Tripoli raid was carried out by the U.S. Army’s Delta Force, which has responsibility for counterterrorism operations in North Africa. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the operation and discussed it on condition of anonymity.

Family members said gunmen in a three-car convoy seized al-Libi outside his home in the Libyan capital.

His brother, Nabih, said the 49-year-old was parking outside his house early Saturday after dawn prayers, when three vehicles surrounded his vehicle. The gunmen smashed his car’s window and seized his gun before grabbing al-Libi and fleeing. The brother said al-Libi’s wife saw the kidnapping from her window and described the abductors as foreign-looking armed “commandos.”

Libya asked the United States on Sunday for “clarifications” regarding the raid and said any Libyan should face trial in his own country.

The raid puts the fragile Libyan government in a delicate position – the country’s post-Gadhafi leadership faces criticism from some Libyans that it is too close to the United States, and it cannot be seen to be allowing U.S. forces to act freely on Libyan territory. The central government has had only limited authority around the country, where militiamen – many of the Islamic militants themselves – hold considerable power and have unleashed their anger on the government in the past.
U.S. commando twin raids hit ‘high-value’ terrorism targets in Somalia, Libya | National Post

To me its proof that Americans are a Little challenged. Why do they keep on pocking there nose into these affairs, well meaning they may be, they are not good at anything else other than smart weapons technology.

Yeh, but even with superior firepower and technology they manage to fwkup.

Originally Posted by peterpan

To me its proof that Americans are a Little challenged. Why do they keep on pocking there nose into these affairs, well meaning they may be, they are not good at anything else other than smart weapons technology.

Well, at least some of the older ones aren't afraid to storm the Iwo Jima & other WW2 Memorials w/out any weapons.

Originally Posted by ENT

Yeh, but even with superior firepower and technology they manage to fwkup.

How did they fuck up? They penetrated the capital of a foreign power and nabbed their target. In Somalia they chose to break contact due to heavy fire. Not a fuck up by a long shot. American Seal teams and Special forces are by far and away the best and most capable in the world.

Simple mate, they fwkdup in Somalia, even mis-identified their target, had top retreat.

Npot a resounding success.

They were more successful in Libya, but raid the ragheads for what? One prisoner?

Originally Posted by ENT

Simple mate, they fwkdup in Somalia, even mis-identified their target, had top retreat.

Bullshit.

A special operations force cut short its mission to capture a terror suspect in Somalia Friday in part because a group of children unexpectedly showed up, NBC reports.

The Pentagon acknowledged Monday that the U.S. attempted and failed to capture Ikrima, a Kenyan of Somali origin linked to the Somali terror organization al-Shabab.

Citing military sources, NBC says soldiers from the elite Seal Team 6 snuck onto the beach, arrived at the compound and identified Ikrima before being spotted by an al-Shabab fighter. That fighter called in others and began firing, putting the special operations team under siege. The Seal Team withdrew back to the beach in part because it believed a sustained firefight would endanger a group of nearby children, according to NBC.

The team withdrew uninjured, NBC reports.

In a statement, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said, “While the operation did not result in Ikrima’s capture, U.S. military personnel conducted the operation with unparalleled precision and demonstrated that the United States can put direct pressure on al-Shabaab leadership at any time of our choosing.”



Read more: Seal Team 6 Withdrew from Somalia Because of a Group of Children | TIME.com

Oh, is that your way of seeing it?

Just reading your post, it seems like the Pentagon is trying to recover lost pride.

PS.
This must be a historic first, US hold back on an attack because of a group of children in the way,....At night? Or was this a day-time raid?
----

Members of the Navy's SEAL Team 6 usually accomplish their objectives. These are guys who executed the daring raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011.

So when they fail, it comes as a bit of a shock to the global military and defence community.

They failed this weekend, in a brazen attempt to capture a key member of Somalia's al Shabab terror group, and NBC News has some details about what went wrong.

Citing multiple military sources, they report that a team of roughly two dozen SEALs came ashore in the town of Barawe in southern Somalia and took positions around a building. Their mission: to capture a man known as Ikrima, who was believed to be in one of the houses.

Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, better known by his nom de guerre, Ikrima, is a Somalian militant commander who ordered an attack on a United Nations compound that killed 14 people in June and has ties to al-Qaida operatives, officials said.

Just as the SEALs prepared to get their man, however, a lone Somali terrorist came outside to smoke a cigarette.

"The fighter played it cool, and gave no indication that he had spotted the SEALs," Cole and Miklaszewski write. "But he came back out shooting, firing rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle."

They reportedly could see their man, Ikrima, through the window of one of the buildings, but as more fighters descended on their position and children intermingled through the crowds, they could do nothing to reach him.

Surrounded and fighting for their lives, the SEALs were left with no option than to call in for air support and fight their way out of there.

In their rush to leave, the SEALs reportedly left some gear behind, remnants of a raid gone wrong, but where they were lucky to escape unscathed.


(Pic showing Garmin Nav, a flashbang and ammo left behind)

Included in the gear was a Garmin navigator. Jack Murphy, managing editor at SOFREP, posted on Facebook that the device is likely full of waypoints that the terrorists could use.

"Never a good thing but probably not worth going back for if you are taking effective fire," he wrote.

In a statement, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said of the raid, "While the operation did not result in Ikrima's capture, US military personnel conducted the operation with unparalleled precision and demonstrated that the United States can put direct pressure on al-Shabaab leadership at any time of our choosing."

Little described Ikrima as a top commander in al-Shabab, the al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia that has claimed responsibility for the September 21 attack on a Nairobi, Kenya, shopping mall that left nearly 70 people dead. It’s unclear whether Ikrima had a role in the attack, but other officials said he helps coordinate foreign fighters for al-Shabab.

Cig break foiled Navy SEAL raid - world | Stuff.co.nz

That link I posted was to counter your comment that the Seal team misidentified their target, and that was not the case also to say that the US military deliberately kills civilians is just fucking laughable.

This article below is the most detailed yet;

The team of less than two dozen Navy SEALs from Seal Team 6 huddled in one fast boat and headed toward the Somali shoreline under the cover of darkness in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Three more small boats with additional SEALs flanked the assault team’s craft, to provide back-up and assist with the planned extraction of an al Shabaab warlord named Ikrima.

According to multiple U.S. military sources, the lead boat landed, and the assault team hit the beach near the Southern Somali town of Barawe, headed for the fortified seaside compound of their target. U.S. intelligence had determined that Ikrima, one of two terror suspects targeted by the military in simultaneous raids thousands of miles apart this weekend, planned the terror group’s operations outside of Somalia.
Click here to read more about this weekend’s simultaneous U.S. raids on terror suspects in Libya and Somalia.

The SEALs entered the compound and took the positions they had selected based on the intelligence collected in advance of the raid.

Then a lone al Shabaab fighter walked out into plain view, smoked a cigarette, and went back inside, one source familiar with the details of the raid said. The fighter played it cool, and gave no indication that he had spotted the SEALs. But he came back out shooting, firing rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle.

Soon the American commandos were under siege from the warlord’s well-armed fighters. Gunfire swept toward their positions and grenades began to rain down, multiple military sources said.

Several of the SEALs could see Ikrima through the windows of the compound, but couldn’t get to him. The SEALs continued to take fire while trying to find a way to get closer to their target.

And then the children came into the pictures on their scopes.

The suspect was barricaded and heavily protected by armed men, and now children were intermingled among the fighters and in danger of dying. Then the whole town of Barawe began to erupt and more armed fighters were seen heading for Ikrima’s compound. Soon there would be fewer than two dozen Americans against hundreds of Somalis.

The SEALs opted to withdraw.

U.S. military sources said they did so in stages, making their way down the beach, asking and waiting for further orders. The team, sources said, was still considering the option of returning to fight some more.

As air support was called in, the SEALs headed back to the beach and to their boat. A command decision had been made that the prize was not worth the risk of casualties to civilians and SEALs.

The SEALs escaped from Barawe without any deaths or injuries, according to sources and officials. And the target they sought to capture is still at large.
The SEALs were members of the same unit that raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in 2011, killing the al Qaeda leader.

“After the past few years and the bin Laden raid, everyone thinks these operations are easy – they’re not,” said a senior military official familiar with the operation. “The area doesn’t have the same support network for us as Afghanistan and Iraq.”
The SEALs were “amazed” no one was hurt in the Somalia operation, said the official.
In a statement, Pentagon press secretary George Little said that U.S. military personnel had conducted a targeted operation against Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, a Kenyan of Somali origin. The statement referred to him as a close associate of al Qaeda operatives involved in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and the 2002 attacks in Mombasa that killed Kenyans and Israelis.

“While the operation did not result in Ikrima’s capture,” said the statement, “U.S. military personnel conducted the operation with unparalleled precision and demonstrated that the United States can put direct pressure on al Shabaab leadership at any time of our choosing.”

In a simultaneous operation 3,000 miles away, U.S. special forces whisked al Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi off the streets of the Libyan capital of Tripoli. He will be taken to the United States to stand trial for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the officials said.

Exclusive: How the SEAL raid on Somalia went bad - Investigations

Originally Posted by bsnub

That link I posted was to counter your comment that the Seal team misidentified their target, and that was not the case also to say that the US military deliberately kills civilians is just fucking laughable.

Don't be stupid, the US army has a record of soldiers killing civilians.

There are several accounts of the US army or individual soldiers killin and torturing civilians.

The commonly used euphemism for the army kills of civilians is colateral damage, or are you in denial of that fact?