Related: U.S. gunship strikes
suspected al-Qaida targets in Somalia
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This March 2002 US Air Force (USAF) handout photo
shows an Air Force AC-130 gunship on a training exercise. The United
States launched air strikes on suspected Al-Qaeda targets in southern
Somalia on Tuesday. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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NAIROBI,
Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The man who masterminded the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in
East Africa has reportedly been killed in U.S. air strikes in Somalia.
Reports reaching here on Wednesday indicated that
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was among dozens of people killed in air strikes
launched by U.S. forces in southern Somalia early this week.
The 32-year-old Mohammed allegedly planned the
attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed more than 200
people. He is also believed to have planned the 2002 Paradise Hotel bombing in
Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa.
Mohammed, one of FBI's most wanted terrorists who has
evaded capture for eight years, was allegedly harbored by a Somali Islamic
movement that was ousted late last month by the Ethiopia-backed Somali
transitional government.
Washington has long said al-Qaeda suspects linked to
the embassy bombings in East Africa took refuge in Somalia. It also accuses
members of the Somali Islamic movement, Supreme Council of Islamic Courts
(SCIC), of having links to al-Qaeda.
Mohammed joined al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and was
trained therewith Osama bin Laden, the terror network's leader, according to the
transcript of an FBI interrogation of a known associate.
The U.S. air strikes are underway as the transitional
government has called for all clan militia to assemble at designated points
across the country to disarm, retrain and join the national army.
Related:
Ethiopian PM confirms 8 terrorists killed in U.S. Somalia air
attack
ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Eight terrorists
were killed in the U.S. air attack on suspected al-Qaeda targets in southern
Somalia, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi confirmed Wednesday.
"Eight are dead and there are five wounded terrorists
now under the control of our troops," Meles told a press conference.
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