US officials this evening said there have been no new US air strikes on targets in Somalia since the previously reported operation on Monday, contradicting earlier reports from Somali government sources.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed
The Pentagon yesterday confirmed a first US strike against suspected al-Qaeda targets occurred on Monday.
Strikes have continued in Somalia, according to a Somali government source, but US officials said the United States had not conducted any strikes since Monday.
"There have been no additional attacks," said one official. A US defense official said reports of additional US strikes could not be substantiated.
US forces have coordinated attacks on al-Qaeda in Somalia with Ethiopian forces, according to US government sources.
Some of those sources said Ethiopia had conducted the additional attacks in Somalia since Monday's US strike.
The strike was aimed at an al-Qaeda cell said by Washington to include suspects in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in east Africa and a hotel in Kenya.
Somali officials said many died in Monday's strike - the first overt US military action in Somalia since a disastrous humanitarian mission ended in 1994.
Mohammed a senior al-Qaeda suspect was reported killed by the recent US air strikes in Somalia. Abdirizak Hassan, the Somali president's chief of staff, told The Associated Presstoday that Somali leaders had received a US report that included a claim that "that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed is dead."
A Somali clan elder reported a second US air strike yesterday, but that was not confirmed by other sources.
The US actions were defended by Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, but criticised by others including new UN chief Ban Ki-moon, the European Union, and former colonial power Italy.
"The secretary-general is concerned about the new dimension this kind of action could introduce to the conflict and the possible escalation of hostilities that may result," UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said.
Agencies