15 September,2009 01:10 PM IST | | PTI
American commandos killed the most wanted African Islamic militant commander in a daylight raid carried out using helicopters, an indication that the Obama administration is willing to use force strategically against Al-Qaeda's growing influence in the region.
Saleh-al-Saleh Nabhan, allegedly Al-Qaeda's top commanders in Kenya whom American military and intelligence forces had been hunting for years was killed when four US helicopters suddenly materialised over the horizon and shot two trucks in which the commander was travelling with his armed entourage, near the town of Baraawe in Somalia,'The New York Times' reported.
The paper quoting US and Somali officials said that the trucks were carrying leaders of the Shabab, an Al-Qeada linked group fighting to overthrow Somalia's weak but internationally supported and recognised government.
The Shabab, fights and works hand-in hand with Al-Qeada sent foreign terrorist who now have an upper hand in Somalia. The movements of Nabhan, who the Americans believe was responsible for an attack on an Israeli hotel on the Kenyan coast in 2002 and may have played a role in strikes on two American embassies in East Africa in 1998, were being tracked by US special forces onboard the American warships in the region.
