U.S. Target Al Qaeda Terrorist in Somalia

Mar. 3, 2008— -- Planes fired three missiles at aSomali town held by Islamic extremists early Monday, destroying ahome and seriously injuring eight people, including four children,residents and police said.

The missiles that struck Dobley, some four miles from the Kenyanborder, were from military aircraft, but it was not clear fromwhich country they originated, witnesses said. Remnants of anIslamic force that had once ruled much of southern Somalia tookover Dobley last week.

Last year, the U.S. shelled suspected al-Qaida targets inSomalia, one of the most lawless and violent countries in theworld. Neither U.S. Africa Command nor U.S. Central Command said itwas aware of Monday's missile strike. A spokesman for the U.S.Embassy in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, whose mandate coversSomalia, referred calls to the U.S. Defense Department.

"We woke up with a loud and big bang and when we came out wefound our neighbor's house completely obliterated as if no houseexisted here," a resident of the town, Fatuma Abdullahi, told TheAssociated Press. "We are taking shelter under trees. Three planeswere flying over our heads."

A police officer who gave only his first name, Siyad, because hewas not authorized to speak to the media said the eight woundedwere hit by shrapnel. He also said the planes were militaryaircraft.

An aid worker in Dobley said up to six people were still trappedin the rubble at midday. It was not clear if these victims wereincluded in the police officer's tally.

"A minimum of two bombs were dropped," the aid worker, whoasked that his name not be used because he is not authorized tospeak to the media, told the AP by telephone. "Between four andsix people are in the rubble."

Clan elder Ahmed Nur Dalab said a senior Islamic official,Hassan Turki, was in town Sunday to mediate between his fightersand a militia loyal to the government. Turki's forces took overDobley last week.

In early 2007, Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies droveout a radical Islamic group to which Turki is allied that had takenover much of southern Somalia. The Islamic forces have fought toregain power.

Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlordsoverthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on eachother.