U.S. Somalia raid is shape of war to come

The U.S. Navy SEAL raid into violence-wracked Somalia to rescue two Western hostages is widely seen as a harbinger of more wide-ranging covert U.S. operations against terrorists and their allies.

Wednesday's operation by helicopter-borne commandos of SEAL Team 6, the same unit that assassinated Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani hideout in May, underlined U.S. President Barack Obama's new focus on Special Forces as the cutting edge of U.S. military power in the global battle against Islamist militants.

The SEALs parachuted into Somalia near the town of Adado during the night raid, then moved in on foot to a pirate camp where the hostages were being held. They took the captors by surprise as they slept after an evening spent chewing qat leaves, a mild narcotic.

Nine of the kidnappers were killed and the two captives -- Jessica Buchanan, a 32-year-old American; and Pula Hagen Thisted, a 60-year-old Dane -- were freed unharmed.