U.S. forces have struck what officials say is a suspected al-Qaida terrorist camp in Somalia in East Africa, according to CBS News.
U.S. officials say they were targeting high-level terrorist leaders. They sent in an AC-130 gunship, capable of firing thousands of rounds per second, and a source told CBS “a lot” of bodies littered the ground after the strike, which took place in the last 24 hours.
Details about the strike are still emerging.
Somalia was invaded by neighboring Ethiopia last month in a successful attempt to unseat an Islamic government that the Bush Administration says was supported by al-Qaeda. Ethiopia has received nearly $20 million in military aid from the United States since late 2002, USA Today reported today. That money was key to the Ethiopian invasion, which opens a new front in the United States’ war on terror.
The strike is certain to further complicate a debate over Iraq and the war on terror two days before President Bush is set to announce a new strategy in Iraq that he’ll try to sell to a Democratic-controlled Congress.
Incidentally, Ethiopia is the only East African nation between Somalia and Sudan, where Gov. Bill Richardson is currently trying to help negotiate a peace agreement. Click here to view a map of the region.