Sep 22, 2009

NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. raid in Somalia that killed a senior al Qaeda militant last week raises questions about "lone ranger behavior" by the United States, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said on Monday.

U.S. special forces killed Kenya-born Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, 28, who was wanted for a hotel bombing and a failed missile attack on an Israeli airliner leaving Kenya's Mombasa airport in 2002.

Asked about the U.S. raid, which analysts say risks further inflaming anti-Western opinion a region of growing concern, Wetangula expressed mixed feelings.

"To the extent that the United States has said that the operation had some limited success ... if their operation has any value to add, we would welcome it," Wetangula told Reuters in New York where he was attending the U.N. General Assembly.

"What I do not feel comfortable with is the fact that the U.S. would want to conduct operations in our neighborhood without information or cooperation or collaboration," he said.

"That lone ranger behavior has often not succeeded in many places."

reuters