Baraawe raid
Encyclopedia
The Barawee raid, code named Operation Celestial Balance, was a helicopter assault by United States Special Operations Forces against the al-Qaeda
linked terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and associated al Shahaab
militants near the town of Baraawe
in southern Somalia
.
in 2007 when they targeted several al-Qaeda
linked militants with AC-130 airstrikes.
.. He was seen traveling in a two-car convoy from the southern coastal town of Barawe, which is controlled by al-Shabab. This was seen to be the best opportunity to target him as he would be away from civilian population. US Army Special Forces launched from a U.S. naval vessel offshore in AH-6 Little Bird Helicopters. Once the helicopters had reached the target location in which the convoy had stopped for breakfast, the helicopters or the occupants opened fire on the convoy killing Nabhan and three other militants.
At least one helicopter landed briefly dropping off a small US Navy SEAL Team, to recover Nabhan's body and bring two other wounded militants back to their ship.
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
linked terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and associated al Shahaab
Al-Shabaab (Somalia)
Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen , more commonly known as al-Shabaab , is a terrorist group of militants fighting to overthrow the government of Somalia. As of 2011, the group controls large swathes of the southern parts of Somalia, where it is said to have imposed its own strict form of Sharia law...
militants near the town of Baraawe
Barawa
Barawa or Brava is a port town on the south-eastern coast of Somalia. The traditional inhabitants are the Tunni Somalis and the Bravanese people, who speak Bravanese, a Swahili dialect.-History:...
in southern Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
.
Background
Nabhan had been wanted by the United States since 2006 in connection to several terrorist attacks in the Horn of Africa in previous years. The US Military had been actively targeting Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan since the Battle of Ras KamboniBattle of Ras Kamboni
The Battle of Ras Kamboni was a battle in the 2006-2007 Somali War fought by the Islamic Courts Union and affiliated militias against Ethiopian and the Somali Transitional Federal Government forces for control of Ras Kamboni , a town near the Kenyan border which once served as a training camp for...
in 2007 when they targeted several al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
linked militants with AC-130 airstrikes.
Raid
To avoid collateral damage the United States chose to use a special operations team to target Nabhan rather than launching a missile attack as they did in the Dobley airstrikeDobley airstrike
On 2 March 2008 at least one United States Naval vessel launched a Tomahawk cruise missile into the village of Dobley in Somalia. According to US military officials the target of the attack was an al-Qaeda leader. Varying reports of casualties surfaced with villagers reporting that between four to...
.. He was seen traveling in a two-car convoy from the southern coastal town of Barawe, which is controlled by al-Shabab. This was seen to be the best opportunity to target him as he would be away from civilian population. US Army Special Forces launched from a U.S. naval vessel offshore in AH-6 Little Bird Helicopters. Once the helicopters had reached the target location in which the convoy had stopped for breakfast, the helicopters or the occupants opened fire on the convoy killing Nabhan and three other militants.
At least one helicopter landed briefly dropping off a small US Navy SEAL Team, to recover Nabhan's body and bring two other wounded militants back to their ship.