The Pentagon has again denied that Somalia was the next target in the US war on terrorism, rejecting a statement to that effect reportedly made by a German official as false.
Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke on Thursday insisted that US secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld did not tell his NATO allies at a meeting in Brussels that the East African nation was next on Washington's target list.
"At the NATO meeting the secretary, as he has done repeatedly, talked about the fact that al-Qaeda is in many places above and beyond Afghanistan," Clarke said.

"He has talked about all sorts of different countries, including Somalia, in which al-Qaeda has been active. He very emphatically ... Never said where we might go next, what we might do."

Clarke emphasised that such a move was up to President George W Bush.

The German, speaking after Rumsfeld briefed NATO officials there on US plans, said, "It is no longer a question of 'if' but 'how' the United States will fight against terrorism in Somalia."

Bureau Report