The U.S. launched a military airstrike in Somalia to go after a group of terrorist suspects, defense officials said Monday.
I wonder who we got?
Normally, our forces in the Horn practice more preventative types of action to bolster locals against any al Qaeda intrustion. Last year's Ethiopian intervention to take down the Islamic Courts Movement in Somalia was the biggest operation we've seen there.
Airstrikes or other loud actions will happen now and again and are part of the broad war we fight regardless of whether you truly believe we are "distracted" form killing jihadis in the world by killing jihadis in Iraq.
UPDATE: It was a missile strike near the Kenyan border:
A U.S. Navy warship fired at least one Tomahawk cruise missile at a house, believed occupied by al Qaeda members, six kilometers from the Kenyan border, in the town of Dobley. A Tomahawk carries a half ton warhead, which would destroy the kind of brick, walled compounds common in this part of the world. No one is sure how many people died in the explosion, as the compound was not there anymore after the missile hit.
Thanks in part to the Ethiopian assistance over the last year that ended al Qaeda's hopes of turning Somalia into a new sanctuary, the jihadis are spread thin in the Horn so a single strike on leadership can really disrupt them for quite some time. A more robust presence could promote somebody quickly.
