By Abdi Sheikh
REUTERS Saturday February 25, 2012 7:24 AM
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A missile strike killed four foreign militants south of Somalia’s capital yesterday, an intelligence official said, a day after the country’s prime minister called for foreign airstrikes against al-Shabab, an Islamist rebel group.
Residents reported hearing a big explosion early yesterday in the Lower Shabelle region, an area between Mogadishu and the port town of Marka that is controlled by insurgents. A car was the target.
“A very senior Egyptian was killed. Three Kenyans and a Somali also died,” said a senior intelligence officer who declined to be named.
Al-Shabab confirmed the missile strike on a website but said it was not clear whether the dead were its fighters or civilians.
Civilians in central and southern Somalia regularly report drones and warplanes flying overhead. The United States doesn’t comment on drone strikes in Somalia, but Washington has authorized covert operations there in the past.
Al-Shabab, which has been linked to al-Qaida, is the most powerful of an array of militias spawned by the conflict in Somalia, where armed groups have a history of perpetuating war, instability and famine.
The group has been the target of troops from Ethiopia and Kenya, and it retreated from Mogadishu in late summer. But Somali authorities reported yesterday that 25 suspected al-Shabab members in possession of firearms and explosives were detained during raids in the capital.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2012/02/25/strike-kills-4-militants-in-somalia.html
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