CIA Officer Killed in Raid Against Islamic Extremists in Somalia

A CIA OFFICER was killed last month during a raid against Islamic extremist commanders in Somalia according to recently revealed sources.

According to Somali intelligence officials, the CIA officer died during a raid on a militant group meeting in a coastal village near the Somali capital Mogadishu. The operation was targeting leading commanders of al-Shabaab, a notorious and powerful Islamic extremist group who have waged a campaign of terror across East Africa.

US and Somali special forces were hoping to capture Abdullahi Osman Mohamad, known as ‘Engineer Ismail’, who they suspect of designing numerous powerful bombs that have killed multiple civilians as well as a US soldier in Kenya last year. The militant was classed as a ‘specially designated global terrorist’ by the US recently, meaning he is considered one of the world’s most serious security threats.

The CIA officer was reportedly killed when al-Shabaab detonated a car bomb within minutes of the unsuccessful raid beginning. According to the New York Times, the unnamed officer was a member of the Special Activities Center, the CIA’s elite paramilitary wing. A Somali intelligence officer told the Guardian that ‘we flew at 2 AM that night. The soldiers disembarked from the chopper and went on foot in the bush before a huge explosion went off’ and killed the CIA officer alongside four Somali soldiers.

After a 40-minute gun battle, the team was forced to retreat empty-handed, with an al-Shabaab source reportedly claiming the extremists knew about the raid in advance.


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Oisin Sweeney

Oisin is an Irish writer based in Seville, the sunny capital of Andalucia. After starting his working life as a bookseller, he moved into journalism and cut his teeth as a reporter at one of Ireland's biggest news websites. Since joining Euro Weekly News in November, he has enjoyed covering the latest stories from Seville, Spain and further afield - with special interests in crime, cybersecurity, and European politics. Anyone who can pronounce his name first try gets a free cerveza...

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