Mystery airstrike as Somalia collapses: "A mysterious helicopter attack on a gathering of Islamist leaders suggests that the United States, using either Special Forces or mercenaries, may be trying to decapitate jihadist forces who are escalating a war to topple the Western-backed government.
The Americans, ever mindful of the casualties the U.S. Army suffered at the hands of Somali militias in Operation Restore Hope in October 1993, are wary of deploying boots on the ground in Somalia to aid the Transitional Federal Government besieged in the seaside capital of Mogadishu.
But they have carried out several attacks using missiles, airstrikes and Special Forces since the Islamist movement known as al-Shabaab, or Youth, emerged in December 2006 after U.S.-backed Ethiopian forces toppled an Islamist regime in Mogadishu and established the TFG."
