| 2013 raid on Barawe | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofOperation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 SEAL Team Six |  Al-Shabaab | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 24Navy SEALs, unknown number ofNavy SWCC(support element) | unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| none | none | ||||||
The2013 raid on Baraawe was a military operation bySEAL Team Six to capture or killAbdikadar Mohamed Abdikadar "Ikrima", a senior member of theAl-Shabaab insurgent group. It was launched in the southern town ofBarawa,Somalia in October 2013.
On 5 October 2013, Al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab announced that Western naval forces had launched an assault on a house in the insurgent stronghold ofBarawe, a town situated around 180 kilometres (110 mi) south ofMogadishu. He stated that the foreign soldiers had silencer guns, and exchanged gunfire and grenades with the militants before being driven away. Musab later asserted that the attack was launched by theUK SAS unit as well asTurkish special forces, and that oneBritish commander was killed during the raid and four other SAS operatives were fatally wounded. Additionally, aSomali intelligence official indicated that aChechen Al-Shabaab leader was the target of the mission, and that theinsurgent commander was wounded during the offensive and one of his guards was killed.[1]
Somali police stated that the operation had the approval of theSomali government, and that seven individuals were killed during the mission.[2] BothNATO andEU Navfor denied involvement in the raid, as did a Turkish Foreign Ministry representative. A spokeswoman for the British Defence Ministry also said that she and her colleagues were not aware of any British involvement in the operation.[1] According to another Somali intelligence official, the target of the raid was Al-Shabaab leaderAhmed Godane (Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr). A senior US military representative also indicated thatSEAL Team Six, the special operations unit responsible for killingOsama bin Laden inPakistan in 2011, launched the offensive but later abandoned the mission after coming under more fire than expected. Speaking about the aborted mission,US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry said that the insurgents "can run but they can't hide". A spokesman for thePentagon likewise asserted thatUS soldiers had been involved in a counter-terrorism mission in Somalia against a known Al-Shabaab member, but did not elaborate. He also indicated that there were no US fatalities during the operation.[3] US officials later confirmed that the target of the raid was Al-Shabaab commander Abdikadar Mohamed Abdikadar "Ikrima".[2]
