Times-in-Chinese

Helicopter gunships have launched fresh attacks in southern Somalia, a day after the US carried out two air strikes against suspected al-Qaeda operatives believed to be taking shelter with the country’s Islamists.

Yesterday’s attack, which marks the first overt US military action in Somalia since the 1990s, saw an AC-130 attack plane being used to target al-Qaeda members suspected of involvement in the deadly bombings of two US embassies in East Africa in 1998. The strikes left "many dead bodies", according to the interim Somali government.

The identities of those killed was not yet clear, but the targets of the raids were said to include two senior leaders of al-Qaeda’s East Africa cell, Fazul Abdullah Mohamed and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, as well as another operative, Abu Taha al-Sudan. They are suspected to have orchestrated the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people.

One of the areas targeted by yesterday’s attack is Ras Kamboni, located on the remote island of Badmadow and suspected of being a terror training cell. Suspects were previously spotted hiding on the island, which is located on Somalia’s southern tip, close to the Kenyan border.

Another attack was said to have occurred 50km (30 miles) east of Afmadow, with witnesses reporting at least four civilians killed, including a small boy.

"My 4-year-old boy was killed in the strike," Mohamed Mahmud Burale told The Associated Press. "We also heard 14 massive explosions." The claims could not be verified independently.

The strikes come just days after the Union of Islamic Courts, which controlled much of Somalia for the past six months, was driven out by Ethiopian and Somali-government forces. The Islamists deny having links with al-Qaeda.

The interim Somali Government, which is backed by the UN, defended the US’ action, saying it was part of a fight against worldwide terrorism and was "the right thing" to do.

Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the country’s interim President, said: "The Americans had a right to carry out the air strikes on some al-Qaeda members," he said. "Those who carried out attacks on the US embassy in Kenya and Tanzania were there, so it was the right thing and the right time to carry out such strikes.

"The Americans are cracking down al-Qaeda terrorists all over the world and this was part of it."

His comments were supported by Mohamed Aidid, the Interior Minister, who insisted that the US "has the right to defend itself and has an international obligation to support a legitimate government under threat by terrorists."

In Washington, a government official confirmed that the US military launched a strike against several suspected members of al-Qaeda in Somalia, using at least one AC-130 gunship.

It also confirmed that it had sent an aircraft carrier to join three other US warships conducting anti-terror operations off the coast of Somalia. The warships have been seeking to capture suspected al-Qaeda members thought to be fleeing after the Ethiopian invasion.