Helicopters Strafe al-Qaida in Somalia

An AC-130 gunship is shown in this undated photo provided by the U.S. Air Force. Citing Pentagon sources, CBS reported that a gunship like the one shown, led an attack against a site at the southern tip of Somalia where several suspected members of al-Qaida were believed to have been located, Monday Jan. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force) (AP)

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Attack helicopters strafed suspected al-Qaida fighters in southern Somalia on Tuesday, witnesses said, following two days of airstrikes by U.S. forces _ the first U.S. offensives in the African country since 18 American soldiers were killed here in 1993.

In Washington, a U.S. intelligence official said American forces killed five to 10 people in an attack on one target in southern Somalia believed to be associated with al-Qaida. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the operation's sensitivity, said a small number of others present, perhaps four or five, were wounded.

A Somali lawmaker said 31 civilians, including a newlywed couple, died in Tuesday's assault by two helicopters near Afmadow, a town in a forested area close to the Kenyan border. The report could not be independently verified.

A Somali Defense Ministry official described the helicopters as American, but witnesses told The Associated Press they could not make out identification markings on the craft. Washington officials had no comment on the helicopter strike.

The U.S. is hunting down Islamic extremists, said the Somali defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Earlier, Somalia's president said that the U.S. was pursuing suspects in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, and that the effort has his support.

On Wednesday, Somalia's deputy prime minister called for U.S. ground forces to flush out the remaining al-Qaida suspects.

"The only way we are going to kill or capture the surviving al-Qaida terrorists is for U.S. special forces to go in on the ground," Hussein Aideed told the AP. "They have the know-how and the right equipment to capture these people."

Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies were attacked in the capital late Tuesday by gunmen riding in two pickup trucks who fired two rocket propelled grenades, witnesses said.

The rocket attack was followed by several minutes of rifle fire. One Somali soldier was killed and two other soldiers and a bystander were wounded, said minibus driver Harun Ahmed, who took the injured to a hospital.

Col. Shino Moalin Nur, a Somali military commander, told the AP by telephone late Tuesday that at least one U.S. AC-130 gunship attacked a suspected al-Qaida training camp Sunday on a remote island at the southern tip of Somalia next to Kenya.

Somali officials said they had reports of many deaths.