Telegraph

Britain asked to prepare strikes against terror bases in Somalia By Robert Fox and Jessica Berry (Filed: 02/12/2001)

BRITAIN has been asked by America to help prepare military strikes against Somalia in the next phase of the global campaign against Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network.

US Marines prepare a mortar position on their frontline in southern Afghanistan

President Bush indicated last week that Somalia, Yemen and Sudan were likely to be the next targets in the war on terrorism because of their links to al-Qa'eda.

A team of senior British military officers who visited US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, last week was asked to prepare the strategy for attacks on sites in Somalia. They have returned to London to discuss the plan with MoD ministers.

The request was made as it emerged that Saddam Hussein is funding a number of terrorist training camps in Somalia used by a militant Islamic group with close ties to al-Qa'eda. According to Iraqi dissident groups based in London, Saddam has agreed to provide funding, training and equipment to the Somali Islamic group al-Itihaad al-Islamiya in return for assistance from the Somali authorities in avoiding United Nations sanctions. Mr Bush placed al-Itihaad on his list of outlawed terrorist groups after the September 11 incident.

Bin Laden's network is known to have several training camps in southern Somalia and it has been rumoured that he would seek sanctuary in Somalia if forced to flee Afghanistan. Western intelligence agencies have said that members of al-Itihaad have been trained at al-Qa'eda camps and are suspected of involvement in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Pentagon officials have confirmed that American naval ships have been stationed just off the Somali coast to prevent bin Laden from trying to enter by sea.

-- Anonymous, December 02, 2001