Kenyan Foreign Minister Confirms Mall Attack Was By Al-Qaeda

[David Guyatt]

The smell of spin is present, I think.

"Foreign" forces, not simply the US. I wonder what's not being said?

Were there other foreign forces, and if so who? Kenyan forces, Israeli commando's, British SAS?

Foreign military raid al-Shabaab headquarters in Somalia, reports saySpeculation that assault was targeting militant leader Ahmed Godane, who claimed responsibility for Nairobi mall attack

Peter Beaumont and agencies
theguardian.com, Saturday 5 October 2013 12.17 BST
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Members of al-Shabaab, which was reportedly targeted in a foreign military raid on the Somali coast. Photograph: Feisal Omar/Reuters


Foreign military forces appear to have carried out a pre-dawn raid on a southern Somalian coastal town, apparently in pursuit of "a high-profile target" linked to the militant al-Shabaab group that was behind last month's Kenyan mall shootings.
The pre-dawn raid which initial but unconfirmed reports suggested may have involved US troops took place in Barawe, in the lower Shabelle region 240km south of Mogadishu. It is the same town where US Navy commandos killed a senior al-Qaida member four years ago.
The focus of the raid appears to have been a two-storey beachside house which residents say was used as a headquarters by al-Shabaab. with some troops reportedly landing by helicopter.
Radio Shabelle, in Mogadishu, reported that one al-Shabaab fighters had been killed and others were injured. Although the details were sketchy, agencies reported residents describing being awoken before early morning prayers by heavy gunfire. Other Mogadishu news sources appeared to confirm the details of the raid.
An al-Shabaab source, who spoke to Reuters, said a group of westerners had landed on a beach near Barawe and been repelled.
A Somali intelligence official said the targets of the raid were high-profile foreigners in the house and that the strike was carried out by foreign military forces. Somalia's nascent army does not have the ability to carry out a stealth night-time strike. A second intelligence official confirmed the attack. Both insisted on anonymity.
Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, a spokesman for al-Shabaab's military operations, told Reuters: "Westerners in boats attacked our base at Barawe beach and one was martyred from our side. No planes or helicopters took part in the fight. The attackers left weapons, medicine and stains of blood. We chased them."
There was immediate speculation that the target was the leader of al-Shabaab, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, also known as Ahmed Godane, who claimed responsibility for the four-day assault on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi two weeks ago. He said the attack, which left at least 67 people dead, was in retaliation for Kenya's military deployment inside Somalia.
"We were awoken by heavy gunfire last night, we thought an al-Shabaab base at the beach was captured," Sumira Nur told Reuters from Barawe. "We also heard sounds of shells but we do not know where they landed."
An al-Shabaab member, who gave his name as Abu Mohamed, said fighters rushed to the scene to try to capture a foreign soldier but they were not successful.