14 Sep 2009
France has denied claims that its forces were involved in a raid on a village in a rebel-controlled area of southern Somalia, in which elders say several were killed.

The raid in the village of Erile, about 200km south of the capital Mogadishu, saw four foreign helicopters opening fire on a vehicle believed to carry al Shabaab fighters on Monday, killing at least two people, elders and witnesses said.

A local Islamist commander who asked to remain anonymous claimed that the helicopters were French.

Some accounts of the incident in the southern coastal town of Barawe claimed that the foreign troops had uniforms with French insignia.

"There was no French operation," said Admiral Christophe Prazuck, spokesperson for the armed forces' general staff, insisting that the presence was strictly committed to the EU anti-piracy framework and would not "intervene over Somali territory."

Meanwhile, a Press TV correspondent in Somalia said one of the warplanes involved the raid was believed to be a US aircraft -- the low-flying AC-130. He added that the convoy was carrying at least 9 high-ranking al Shabaab fighters at the time of the attack.

The area is controlled by al Shabaab fighters, who are currently engaged in a massive offensive against the new transitional government in Somalia.

Two French intelligence agents were kidnapped from a Mogadishu hotel in July and separately held by two main rebel groups in the lawless country. One of the two was freed after six weeks, but the other is believed to be in al Shabaab captivity.

The French authorities maintain that the pair, who witnesses say posed as journalists while in Mogadishu, was advisors to the government of President Sharif Ahmed.

presstv