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U.s. Attacks May Have Killed Canadians In Somalia
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» neoform a répondu le Thu 11 Jan, 2007 @ 9:25am |
 Coolness: 339745 | [ www.newsique.com ]
UNITED NATIONS - International concern over civilian casualties mounted Tuesday after the United States launched air strikes in Somalia against what the Pentagon said were ''principal'' al-Qaida suspects. U.S. officials said the offensive was based on ''credible intelligence'' about the whereabouts of al-Qaida operatives, while critics note it comes just ahead of President George W. Bush's major address tonight on his administration's new strategy for Iraq and the war on terror. The U.S. scrambled an AC-130 gunship capable of firing thousands of rounds a minute to attack villages in southern Somalia where it said al-Qaida suspects had been spotted Monday. Helicopter gunships carried out a second wave of attacks Tuesday, but it was unclear whether they were U.S. operated, or launched by Ethiopian forces allied to the U.S. and the United Nations-backed transitional government in Somalia. Civilians were among the ''many dead'' in Monday's strikes, while locals said the attacks Tuesday left between 22 and 27 people dead. With almost 200,000 Somalis living in Canada - most having arrived as refugees since the country last had a national government 15 years ago - federal officials say they are closely following developments. Canadian officials responsible for Somali affairs at the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi, meanwhile, are expected to follow up on a statement made Tuesday by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that Canadians may have been among suspected terrorists killed or taken prisoner in the hostilities in Somalia. Kenyan authorities had detained Somalis with Canadian passports. "Many international terrorists are dead in Somalia," Zenawi told France's Le Monde newspaper Tuesday. "Photographs have been taken and passports from different countries have been collected. The Kenyans are holding Eritrean and Canadian passport holders. We have injured people coming from Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan, the United Kingdom." Zenawai's comment caught the federal government off guard, and came one week after Kenya said it arrested a man carrying a Canadian passport at its border with Somalia. "We don't have any basis to confirm or deny. We just have this declaration from the prime minister," Foreign Affairs spokesman Rejean Beaulieu said. Canadian diplomats in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa were trying to gather more details but had nothing to report back to Ottawa as of Tuesday night. ''Any individuals found to hold Canadian passports will be offered the same consular services as any other Canadian citizen,'' Beaulieu added. In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said he was unaware of any consultations between administration officials and Congress ahead of the U.S. strikes. The U.S. assault, meanwhile, met opposition across Europe, with one senior European Union official describing it as ''not helpful'' to the peace process, and Italian Foreign Minister Massimo d'Alema warning such a ''unilateral initiative'' could spark ''new tensions.'' UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon - in what may go down as his first criticism of the U.S. since assuming the UN helm Jan. 1 - warned hostilities in the region may now escalate because of what he called Washington's ''new dimension'' of its war on terror. |
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U.s. Attacks May Have Killed Canadians In Somalia
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