Hiiraan Online
Friday, June 24, 2011
Nairobi, Kenya (HOL) - Somalia’s Islamist opposition group on Friday said they have retaliated against US and French helicopter attacks against their strongholds in the South of the Horn of Africa Country.
The spokesman of Al-Shabaab fighters, Sheikh Hassan Yackub told the local media that two helicopters belonging to the two countries have hit the group’s military positions in Qadanlka, a remote hamlet in the eastern periphery of Somalia’s port city of Kismayu.
The official however said, they have responded to the attacks that have wounded two of their militants who were part of a strong contingent of Al-Shabaab fighters present at the military base.
As of evening Friday, there was no independent confirmation of how big the casualty against Al-shabaab was as the group top officials emerged bravely claiming to have retaliated with their military power.
In recent months residents of Kismayu and its environs have repeatedly talked about fighter jets maneuvering over their skies. Both the US and France have military bases in neighboring Djibouti where the two western giants are strategizing the war against terrorism.
In 2009, there have been US air strikes on al-Shabaab, a US special operations team killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. The man was a top official of Al-Qaeda, a group linked to Al-Shabaab.
The US administration is said to have been considering using drone attacks as an option to help the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to defeat the insurgency group.
Somalia analysts however criticized the attacks describing it as a dangerous move that will not help bring peace but make matters worse in the troubled war-torn nation.