Foreign forces attack house of Somali militants

Unidentified foreign forces attacked a house in the Al-Shabaab controlled southern Somalia town of Barawe in an overnight raid, state radio and residents said Saturday. The attack was launched from the sea at a house protected by Al- Shabaab fighters and the battle lasted for more than an hour, residents of Barawe in Lower Shabelle region said. "We could hear exchanges of gunfire between unknown foreign forces and Al-Shabaab fighters at the house," said a resident who request anonymity to Xinhua. State Radio Mogadishu reported that foreign aircraft were involved in the attack. One Al-Shabaab fighter was reported killed in the attack. The town of Barawe, 250 km south of Mogadishu, has been under the control of the Islamist militant group for several years and has been the scene of a number of similar attacks before carried out by US forces against extremist leaders. Al-Shabaab, which has links to the international terror group Al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the deadly Nairobi shopping mall attack two weeks ago. The radical group is waging an insurgency against the Somali government and the African Union peacekeeping forces (AMISOM). Al-Shabaab was ousted from much of the southern and central areas by allied Somali government forces and AMISOM peacekeepers in 2011.