U.S. Navy SEALs carried out an attack on Saturday against Somali militants in search of an Al Qaeda member linked to the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, The Associated Press reported.
The Barawe raid was planned a week and a half ago following to the attack in Kenya, according to the New York Times. The SEAL team was ordered to withdraw from the mission before being able to confirm if they killed the fugitive target or not.
The Pentagon confirmed the raid but would not give further detail.
On Saturday, an Al Shabaab spokesman said their military base in the coastal town was attacked in a predawn strike by "white soldiers" just hours before morning prayers. It is the same town where Navy SEALs killed an Al Qaeda operative on top of the world's most wanted list four years ago.
However, Reuters reported that the Islamist militants initially assumed the attack was performed by British and Turkish forces and said they killed the commander of the British soldiers, wounded four others, and injured one Turkish soldier. In contrast to their claims, AFP said Britain denied any involvement in the attack.
Local residents said the sound of gunfire woke up them up in the middle of the night.
"Gunfire broke out for about 10-15 minutes," one witness said.
Other witnesses said they saw militants invade a house where leaders of Al Shabaab lived.
Despite the attack on their base, Al Shabaab leader Mohamed Abu Suleiman said the raid was a failure and that the terrorist group is still in complete control.
Al Shabaab is the terrorist group responsible for the attack in Nairobi last month, killing 67 people and wounding over 100. The leader of the group, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, also known as Ahmed Godane, said the assault was in response to the presence of Kenyan military officials in Somalia.
A military spokesman in Kenya recently released the names of four men in Al Shabaab associated with the attack -- Abu Baara al-Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khattab al-Kene and Umayr -- and are still conducting investigations.
