US drones now target Somali Qaeda

Washington, July 1 (ANI): The US is reported to have used unmanned drones to target high value Al Qaeda suspects in Somalia for the time. The precision strike is said to have been carried out last week and was aimed at two Al-Shabab militant group, which is fighting to overthrow Somalia's weak transitional National Government and impose Islamic law. US officials claimed the two individuals targeted had 'direct ties' to Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born cleric now based in Yemen who is believed to be a senior planner in Al-Qaeda's operations, The Washington Post reports. Al-Shabab, which is believed to maintain links with al-Qaeda franchises, is growing stronger as it consolidates its hold on the majority of Somali territory, including more than half of the capital, Mogadishu. "They have become somewhat emboldened of late, and, as a result, we have become more focused on inhibiting their activities. They were planning operations outside of Somalia," a US official was quoted as saying by The Washington Post. With this drone strike, Somalia has become the sixth country where US has used drones to carry out air strikes. Earlier drones have been used in Libya, Yemen, Iraq and most extensively in Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to higher estimates drone strikes have killed 2,500 people in Pakistan since 2004. Fresh strikes in Somalia coincide with the unveiling of a new US counter terrorism strategy shifting the war on terror away from costly battlefields and towards expanded covert operations. (ANI)