Pentagon confirms US operation vs terrorist in Somalia

WASHINGTON (Xinhua) - Pentagon confirmed Saturday that US military were involved in an operation in Somalia against a terrorist of the al-Shabaab, which is responsible for the recent deadly attack at a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

 Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement that he can confirm that US military personnel were involved in the overnight operation against a known al-Shabaab terrorist on Friday. He did not reveal further details, including the name of the targeted terrorist.

US media earlier quoted a senior US official as reporting that a team of US Navy SEALs took part in the al-Shabaab raid in Somalia, where that the terrorist group is based.

The US troops had to withdraw before they could confirm whether the target was killed as they came under fire, but no SEALs were thought to be killed in the operation, said the official.

Somalia state radio and local residents said Saturday that unidentified foreign forces attacked a house in the al-Shabaab-controlled southern Somalia town of Barawe in an overnight raid.

The attack was launched from the sea at a house protected by al-Shabaab fighters and the battle lasted for more than an hour, according to residents of Barawe in Lower Shabelle region.

Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida linked Somali militant group, has claimed responsibility for the attack on Nairobi's upscale Westgate shopping mall on Sept. 21, which killed over 70 people.

US media also reported that US military forces launched another operation Saturday in Libya's capital Tripoli and captured Abu Anas al Libi, an al-Qaida leader tied to the bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya on Aug. 7, 1998.

The operation was conducted with the knowledge of the Libyan government, a US official was quoted by US media as saying. No further details were disclosed.

So far, the US government has not confirmed the report of the alleged US military operation in Libya.