2009 Baraawe raid

SEAL Team Six helicopter assault in Somalia September 2026 September 2026 2009 Baraawe raid Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa 14 September 2009 Baraawe, Somalia 1 06 48 N 44 01 49 E inline,title Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan killed United States Flag of Jihad.svg al-QaedaAQMI Flag asymmetric.svg al-Shabaab 18px US Naval Special Warfare Development Group Flag of Jihad.svg al-QaedaAQMI Flag asymmetric.svg Al-Shabaab militant group None 6 killed The Baraawe raid, code-named Operation Celestial Balance, was a helicopter assault conducted by SEAL Team Six against the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and associated al-Shabaab militants near the town of Baraawe in southern Somalia. Background Nabhan served as a key facilitator between al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab. He had been wanted by the United States since 2006 for his role as a member of the east-African al-Qaeda cell responsible for several terrorist attacks in East Africa, including the 1998 United States embassy bombings and the 2002 Mombasa attacks.Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 978-1-4728-0790-8, p.282https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8256024.stm Profile: Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan BBC News 2009-09-15 2013-10-05 In 2007, in the midst of the Battle of Ras Kamboni, Nabhan was unsuccessfully targeted by an American military airstrike in the town of Ras Kamboni.Guled Mohamed http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-somalia-conflict-idUKL0869088720070109 https://web.archive.org/web/20160306090325/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-somalia-conflict-idUKL0869088720070109 dead March 6, 2016 'Many dead' in U.S. strike at al Qaeda in Somalia Reuters 2007-01-09 2013-10-05https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6251077.stm Somali raids miss terror suspects BBC News 2007-01-11 2013-10-05 A long-Running CIA CTC/SAD operation hunted Nabhan for a number of years, recruiting a network of Somali agents and paying off Somali warlords for information on the location of Nabhan and his associates. A team from the ISA began getting a precise location of the target from cell phone intercepts and surveillance from both short-range US Navy Scan Eagle UAVs and long range CIA Predators.Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 978-1-4728-0790-8, p.282 CIA and JSOC planners presented President Obama with 4 options: a Tomahawk cruise missile strike, an airstrike, an attack by Little Bird helicopters or an attempt to capture the target with an assault force of SEALs. Obama picked the airstrike option, as it limited the any potential collateral damage and the chances of US casualties.Neville, Leigh, Special Forces in the War on Terror (General Military), Osprey Publishing, 2015 978-1-4728-0790-8, p.282 Raid On the day of the operation, Nabhan was seen traveling in a two-car convoy from the southern coastal town of Barawe. This was reportedly the best opportunity to target him, as he would be away from civilian population, particularly as the convoy had stopped for breakfast.http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/09/15/85015.html Raid killed top Somali Qaeda member Al Arabiya 15 September 2009 19 January 2011 As a USMC AV-8B approached its release point, it reported a malfunction in its targeting system; so, 4 helicopters (2 AH-6M Little Birds and 2 MH-6M Little Birds) piloted by members of the 160th SOAR, carrying a team of SEALs from DEVGRU launched from a Navy Ship off-shore. The AH-6s strafed the two-vehicle convoy, killing Nabhan and 3 other al-Shabaab terrorists. The MH-6s dropped off the DEVGRU operators who cleared the vehicles and recovered Nabhan's body.https://books.google.com/books?id=oWiWBgAAQBAJ&q=Relentless+Strike+Baraawe+AH-6&pg=PT435 Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command 9781466876224 Naylor Sean September 2015 St. Martin's Publishing The DEVGRU operatives placed the bodies of the four terrorists in body bags and loaded them onto their helicopters. The DEVGRU operatives extracted onto the helicopters and returned to their naval vessels."Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations" by Admiral William H. McRaven chapter 15. CBS News reported that two other wounded militants were also captured.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/al-qaeda-death-a-blow-to-terror-group/ Al Qaeda Death a Blow to Terror Group CBS News 16 September 2009 19 January 2011"Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command" by Sean Naylor chapter 28. See also List of operations conducted by SEAL Team Six Drone strikes in Somalia Targeted killing Dobley airstrike References Baraawe raid Baraawe raid Baraawe raid, 2009 Baraawe raid Category:Battles of the Somali Civil War involving the United States Category:Battles in 2009 Category:Airstrikes conducted by the United States Category:Battles involving al-Shabaab (militant group) Category:Helicopter attacks Category:South West State of Somalia Category:Airstrikes in Somalia