AC-130 Sends Terrorists to Allah
As a reminder, we are fighting a Global War on Terror. As such, Al-Queda is a target wherever they are hiding. And once we find a large group of them, we eliminate them with overpowering force. In Somalia the Ethiopian Army corralled the radical Islamists into a tight-knit group. Our AC-130 gunship pumped lead into them from above in what I’m sure was a spectacular display of might.
From the AP here:
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — U.S. helicopter gunships launched new attacks Tuesday against suspected al-Qaida members, a Somali official said, a day after forces launched airstrikes in the first offensive in the African country since 18 U.S. troops were killed there in 1993.
The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived off Somalia’s coast and launched intelligence-gathering missions over Somalia, the military said. Three other U.S. warships are conducting anti-terror operations off the Somali coast.
A U.S. government official said at least one AC-130 gunship was used. AC-130 gunships have elaborate sensors that can go after targets day or night. They are operated by the Special Operations Command and have been used heavily against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The main target was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who allegedly planned the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 225 people.
The AC-130 is armed with 40 mm guns that fire 120 rounds per minute and a 105 mm cannon, normally a field artillery weapon. The gunships were designed primarily for battlefield use to place saturated fire on massed troops.
“We don’t know how many people were killed in the attack but we understand there were a lot of casualties,” government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said. “Most were Islamic fighters.”
There is a great video at YouTube that shows an AC-130 mission at night against the Taliban in Afghanistan. You can see how the gunners have to predict where the running targets are going to be so they blanket that region with explosive ordinance.
