The Dhusamareb airstrike took place on May 1, 2008, at around 3:00 am local time when an American plane dropped three large bombs on a house in the Dhuusamarreeb

Dhuusamarreeb

Dhusamareb , also spelled Dhusa Mareb, is the capital of the central Galguduud region of Somalia.-Overview:Dhuusamarreeb, located , is an administrative center with a permanent population of 9000. The town has been in control of Islamic courts since early 2006...

 region in central Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

. The attack was targeted against the Muslim militant group al-Shabaab

Al-Shabaab (Somalia)

Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen , more commonly known as al-Shabaab , is a terrorist group of militants fighting to overthrow the government of Somalia. As of 2011, the group controls large swathes of the southern parts of Somalia, where it is said to have imposed its own strict form of Sharia law...

.

The attack killed up to 30 people including civilians and two Islamist leaders, identified by al-Shabaab as Adan Ayrow and Sheikh Muhyadin Omar. Four others were injured.

Reactions

Bob Prucha, a US military spokesman, confirmed there was a US attack on a "known al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...

 target" and militia leader.

Mukhtar Robow "Abu Mansur"

Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Mansur

Sheikh Mukhtar Robow is a Somali rebel leader and spokesman for Somalia's Al-Shabaab.-Early life:Robow was born in the 1960s in the Berdaale district of the Bay region in southern Somalia. He studied at a local Qur'anic school, and later continued his religious education in the mosques of...

, leader of al-Shabab, said: "It is true that infidel planes bombed Dhusamareb. This was an unprovoked attack, Aden Hashi Eyrow and Sheikh Muhyadin Omar are the most important Shabaab members who were victims of this foreign aggression... The death of Eyrow and Omar will not stop the struggle for the supremacy of Allah and the liberation of the holy land of Somalia. We will continue the struggle until the Somali people are free."

Paul Salopek

Paul Salopek

Paul Salopek is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning writer. Salopek was raised in central Mexico.-Life:Salopek received a degree in environmental biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1984...

, writing in the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

 in an article entitled "U.S. appears to be losing its secret war in Somalia", reported that jihadists had vowed to kill every foreigner in Somalia in response.

See also

• List of military strikes against presumed terrorist targets
• Manhunt (military)
  Manhunt (military)
  Manhunting is the deliberate identification, capturing, or killing of senior or otherwise important enemy combatants, classified as high-value targets, usually by special operations forces and intelligence organizations...
  
  

External links

• U.S. Airstrike Kills Somali Accused of Links to Al-Qaeda Washington Post May 2, 2008