Somali Bulls Eye

I haven't touched on the goings-on in East Africa much. It's not that the region does not concern me, but I didn't want to talk about it until it became more than the usual bloodshed.

As devastating as Darfur in Sudan was, it was nothing more than another senseless tragedy in Africa. The rebels and socialists and Islamists are constantly producing news of this kind from that continent.

The War on Terror's primary concern, as it was in the beginning, is al Qaeda. So, this morning's headline about Somalia caught my attention. A Somali official said that witnesses claim that when U.S. forces launched a third day of strikes, senior al Qaeda suspect Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was killed.

Jack pot.

Reminiscent of Zarqawi.

Before this, yesterday, Washington also said that the U.S. killed five to ten people believed to be al Qaeda.

This latest casualty, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, is said to have trained in Afghanistan with Osama bin Ladin, and has long been known to be an associate of the terror group. He is suspected of planning the car bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and the attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in 2002.

The assault on Somalia began with gunship strikes in southern Somalia, attacking al Qaeda fighters, in the first offensive in Somalia since 1993 (of which is partly depicted in the film, Black Hawk Down).

Now that we've accomplished this, the Somali Prime Minister is requesting that American Troops assist on the ground. Covert operations may be underway, but as of yet, there are no troops pounding ground in Somalia.

Ethiopia has been in Somalia in an attempt to assist the anti-terror operations, and support the Somali government, for some time. Ethiopia's military has succeeded in driving the bulk of the Islamic militia out of the capital city of Mogadishu, and toward the Kenyan border. Ethiopia is largely Christian, a fact that upsets the already anti-American population of the Muslim dominated Somalia.

Mohammed is one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists. Before his recent, Somali confirmed, death, he has evaded capture for eight years. If the report is true, it is a significant victory.