Source: The Economist:
THE first major response to the terrorist attack on the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, came two weeks to the day after the shooting began on September 21st. US Navy Seals (pictured above on a training exercise) led a failed morning raid on a house in the southern Somali town of Barawe in search of the man who masterminds the international attacks carried out by the Shabab, the Somali Islamist militia affiliated with al-Qaeda. The mission underlined the web of international connections linking militants all over Africa as well as the need for and difficulty of an international response.
American officials confirmed that they had failed to kill or capture Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, also known as Ikrimah, a leading member of the Shabab. Kenyan by birth, he is understood by intelligence agencies to be the chief planner of Shabab attacks beyond Somalia’s borders and its go-between with al-Hijra, an allied Kenyan extremist group. The seaside town of Barawe is one of the Shabab’s remaining strongholds; locals told reporters that an hour-long firefight ensued.