In separate raids, U.S. Navy SEALs carried out a predawn strike in Somalia aimed at capturing a senior leader of the al-Shabaab militant group, while a group of U.S. commandos in Libya seized a man suspected of taking part in the 1998 American Embassy bombings in east Africa.
The Somalian raid, held on Friday, failed to capture the senior militant, and it wasn't clear whether he was killed, although several al-Shabaab members were killed, a U.S. official said. But on Saturday the U.S. military, acting alongside the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, did capture Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, a militant known as Abu Anas al-Libi who was on the FBI's most-wanted list with a $5 million reward.
Although the Obama administration has used deadly force in many of its counterterrorism operations, the twin raids were aimed explicitly at capturing the accused militants, U.S. officials said.
![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-ZE310_somali_DV_20131005233438.jpg)
Associated Press This image from the FBI website shows Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, a militant known as Abu Anas al-Libi.
"I can confirm that [on] October 4 U.S. military personnel were involved in a counterterrorism operation against a known al-Shabaab terrorist," said Pentagon Press Secretary George Little. "We aren't prepared to provide additional detail at this time."
Al-Shabaab, a militant group aligned with al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack at a Nairobi shopping mall last month, which killed at least 69 people. But the raid was planned before the Westgate mall attack and wasn't a direct response to it, the U.S. official said.
However, Mohamed Farah, a Somali counterterrorism official in Mogadishu, said he believed the target of the raid was al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, whom Somali officials suspect planned the Westgate mall attack. U.S. officials declined to comment on that. Mr. Little also confirmed that the U.S. had apprehended Abu Anas in Libya on Saturday. Under an executive order, Abu Anas was named a "specially designated global terrorist." He is also named on the United Nations al Qaeda sanctions list.
Mr. Little said the raid was conducted under military authorities. Unlike the CIA, which can enter a country covertly, the military's special-operation forces generally require some level of cooperation from partner nations before conducting an operation on their territory. Still, because Abu Anas was an indicted al Qaeda leader, the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military force, does give the Washington broad latitude under American law to conduct military operations to capture or kill members of the group.
A U.S. official said there are frequent conversations between American national security officials and the Libyan government on counterterrorism operations. "We consider the Libyan government a partner in the fight against al Qaeda," the U.S. official said.
The Libyan government said Sunday that it had contacted the American authorities and asked for clarifications regarding the Abu Anas operation, according to the Associated Press. Mr. Little said Abu Anas was being held outside Libya pursuant to the military's detention powers under the law of war. Under U.S. law, that could enable military and CIA interrogators to question Abu Anas on other members of al Qaeda or ongoing operations, before custody is transferred to the FBI.
"Wherever possible, our first priority is and always has been to apprehend terrorist suspects, and to preserve the opportunity to elicit valuable intelligence that can help us protect the American people," Mr. Little added.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that the raids send the message that terrorists "can run but they can't hide," the Associated Press reported.
"We hope that this makes clear that the United States of America will never stop in the effort to hold those accountable who conduct acts of terror," said Mr. Kerry, who is in Bali for an economic summit.
The fact that the raids were aimed at capturing the militants is unusual although not without precedent. In April 2011, commandos captured Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a militant with ties to al-Shabaab, as he was crossing the Gulf of Aden. Mr. Warsame was held on a warship before being transferred to the U.S., where he was convicted after pleading guilty.
The Obama administration has repeatedly expressed a desire to try captured terrorists in federal courts. It is likely that Abu Anas will eventually be brought to the U.S., although some members of Congress will likely push for him to be tried by military commission.
U.S. officials are expected eventually to deliver him to federal court in New York City, where he was indicted more than a decade ago as an alleged conspirator in the 1998 embassy bombings. A handful of his accused co-conspirators have already been convicted there.
The raid against al-Shabaab, in the Somali town of Barawe, appeared to be the most significant strike by American commandos in the country in years. Four years ago, special operation forces targeted an al Qaeda leader near the same town, which is an al-Shabaab stronghold.
The SEALs called off the mission to capture the militant after the gunbattle appeared to put civilians at risk. "We disengaged after the initial assault on al-Shabaab. We took precautions to minimize civilian casualties," the U.S. official said.
Officials said the al-Shabaab leader was a militant the U.S. had been watching for some time, since before the Nairobi attack and it wasn't clear whether the militant had a direct role in last month's Nairobi attack. Officials didn't say whether the leader was killed.
U.S. operations in Somalia have been limited since the downing of a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter in October 1993. In January 2012, SEALs parachuting in staged a rescue of two aid workers held by militants.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif), a member of the House intelligence committee, said Abu Anas was a mastermind of the 1998 bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.
"If true, reports of the capture of Abu Anas al-Libi would represent a major blow against the remnants of al Qaeda's core," Rep. Schiff said in a statement. "I hope that his capture brings some measure of comfort to the families of the victims of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam."
Rep. Schiff also said he supported the Somalia raid especially given al-Shabaab's efforts at mounting attacks in neighboring counties.
"In recent months, al-Shabaab has increased its focus on acts of terror outside Somalia, like that at the Westgate mall in Kenya, as a the result of increased pressure and reduced running room back home," he said.
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel commended the military for the two raids which he said demonstrated the "unparalleled precision, global reach" of the U.S. military.
As a result of the Libya operation Mr. Hagel said "one of the world's most wanted terrorists" is now in custody.
Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon also welcomed the U.S operation. "We have close cooperation with the world, especially the Western countries in the fight against al-Shabaab," Mr. Shirdon said during a news conference Sunday in Mogadishu. "We welcome any operation to hunt the terrorist leaders and we are on the forefront."
Mr. Shirdon added that the militant group has grown beyond Somalia as a terror threat. "Al-Shabaab is a Somali problem, a regional problem and world problem," he said.
Barawe residents, who awoke to gunfire and explosions, say the operation targeting al-Shabaab started a few hours after midnight. Ahdurahman Ali, a Barawe resident reached by phone, estimated the firefight lasted 40 minutes.
A woman, who gave her name only as Fartun out of fear for her safety, said that she had seen the body of one dead al-Shabaab fighter. She also said she saw a trail of blood on the path that the foreign commandos used to return to their boats. "We saw a stain of blood on the way leading from the house to the beach of the town," she said.
Al-Shabaab said the foreign assailants came from the beach and attacked a house in Barawe, according to an online transcript of a news conference the group held Saturday in Barawe after the assault.
"They were from the sea, and they were attempting to attack one Mujahid leader in the house. But in Allah's wishes they failed and we managed to chase them until they boarded their boat and they ran away," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Mus'ab said, according to the transcript.
He said the al-Shabaab fighters killed one of the foreign attackers. The U.S. government hasn't reported any dead from the Barawe operation.
The Somali government was tipped off by the Americans shortly before the operation started, but government spokesmen said they weren't given many details.
"We were informed about the attack, and we knew that the main target was a big fish in Somalia but no specific area we thought of," Mr. Farah, the Somali counterterrorism official, said.
A spokesman for the Somali prime minister said the operation didn't appear to go as planned. "It did not accomplish 100% of what it was meant to do," said Ahmed Adan. He said the Somali government has no access to Barawe and so was having a difficult time finding out more details.
"They were going after an identified target. I don't know who exactly," Mr. Adan said.
Matt Bryden, a longtime Somalia analyst and the former head of the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia, said the town of Barawe is such a militant hotbed that the target could have been one of a number of people.
"Barawe has a major concentration of al-Shabaab figures and leadership, so you've got a whole cluster of potential targets there," Mr. Bryden said. "It's a very target-rich environment," he added.
—Abdalle Ahmed Mumin in Mogadishu contributed to this article. Write to Julian E. Barnes at julian.barnes@wsj.com and Heidi Vogt at heidi.vogt@wsj.com
