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Turkey Denies Involvement in U.S. Raid in Somalia

Turkey denied Sunday that its forces were involved in an assault in Somalia by U.S. commandos against a suspected military leader of the Islamist Shebab group.

"We deny these allegations completely," a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.

U.S. Navy Seals stormed two militant targets in Africa on Saturday, snatching a top Al-Qaida suspect in the Libyan capital Tripoli and raiding a Shebab leader's home in the Somalian port of Barawe.

The action in Somalia came two weeks after the siege by Al-Qaida linked Shebab fighters at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi which left at least 67 people dead.

The raid in Barawe failed to capture the wanted militant and it was unclear whether he had been killed, but a U.S. official said several Shebab operatives had been slain.

Shebab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP that the "failed" beach assault had been led by Britain and Turkey.

London has also denied any involvement.

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Source: Agence France Presse


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