According to NBC News, Islamic extremists who had once ruled much of southern Somalia had taken over the town last week.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23445658QUOTE
Prior to the statement, local witnesses said that planes fired three missiles that struck Dobley, some four miles from the Kenyan border. Remnants of an Islamic force that had once ruled much of southern Somalia took over Dobley last week.
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On Monday, a rights group said all sides in Somalia's long-running conflict are united in at least one goal — trying to curtail independent media by "killing, arresting and threatening" reporters.
The report by London-based Amnesty International was released a day after government raids shut down three independent radio stations in Mogadishu. The soldiers forced the stations off the air, arrested a journalist and seized equipment.
"The troops came in, took our equipment and arrested our boss without explanation. We do not know why they are targeting us," Mohamed Abdullahi, a Shabelle radio staff member, told the AP. Shabelle's director, Muqtar Mohamed Hirabe, was arrested.
Mohamed Abukar, a presenter and producer at Radio Horn Afrik, said troops broke down its doors and ordered the station off the air. The other shuttered station was Simba.
Government officials declined to comment on the raids.
1.) The report indicates people in the village did not/do not know of any extremeists, so how effective are these strikes?The report says that one guy who CNN interviewed did not know about the extremists. The effectiveness of the strikes is yet to be determined although I don't think such long range type attacks have much of an effect.
According to
Reuters, local residents knew the attack was on extremists.
QUOTE
Residents of Dobley, a remote Somali town 220 km (140 miles) from the southern port city of Kismayu on the Kenyan border, said they believed the missiles were targeting senior Islamist leaders meeting nearby.
2.) Assuming the United States did not seek authorization to fire given the current political situation in Somailia, does the United States have a right to fire at all?How can we assume that? These Islamists are fighting the Somali government.
3.) Where do we go from here in terms of American/Somailia relations?We will continue to support the Somali government's fight against radical Islamists.
4.) Assuming that there were no terrorists in the village, what should the U.S. do?The preponderance of evidence says that there were indeed terrorists there.