U.S. Navy SEALs were involved in counterterrorism operations in Somalia and Libya

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Naval Forces News - USA
 
 
 
U.S. Navy SEALs were involved in counterterrorism operations in Somalia and Libya
 
The Pentagon confirmed Saturday, October 5, 2013, that U.S. Navy Special Forces SEALS have carried out two separate raids in Africa targeting senior Islamist militants. The first one in Somalia against a terrorist of the al-Shabaab, which is responsible for the recent attack at a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The second one in Libya where the SEALS captured an al-Qaeda leader accused of the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
     
The Pentagon confirmed Saturday, October 5, 2013, that U.S. Navy Special Forces SEALS have carried out two separate raids in Africa targeting senior Islamist militants. The first one in Somalia against a terrorist of the al-Shabaab, which is responsible for the recent attack at a shopping mall in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The second one in Libya where the SEALS captured an al-Qaeda leader accused of the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
A U.S. Navy SEAL fires an MK11 sniper rifle from an MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 9 and deployed with the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) during a training flight in the Arabian Sea.
Picture: US Navy
     

The raid in Libya was conducted with the knowledge of the Libyan government, a US official was quoted as saying by CNN.

Liby "is currently lawfully detained by the US military in a secure location outside of Libya", Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

U.S. media earlier quoted a senior U.S. official as reporting that a team of U.S. Navy SEALs took part in the al-Shabaab raid in Somalia, where that a terrorist group is based.

The U.S. troops had to withdraw before they could confirm whether the target was killed as they came under fire, but no SEALs were thought to be killed in the operation, said the official