UK Tries to Identify British Fighters Injured in Somalia

The Home Office was yesterday checking its database for the names of seven alleged British passport holders who, according to Ethiopian forces, were injured in Monday's US air strike on suspected jihadists in southern Somalia, and later detained near the Kenyan border.

A government source said Ethiopian forces occupying Somalia were convinced that the British passport holders they claim to have captured in the south of the country had been fighting for the rebel Union of Islamic Courts or al-Qaida. But the source said Addis Ababa had not passed on any passport numbers or other details, and pointed out there were many Somali-British dual passport holders living in Somalia who could be affiliated with the Islamic Courts movement or caught in the crossfire.

"There are seven names, and we're still pressing the Ethiopians for more details, so far without success," the source said. Meanwhile, the Home Office was checking the list of names against its database, but without more details, officials said it was hard to verify identities.

The Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, claimed in an interview with Le Monde on Wednesday that there were Britons among the injured. "I don't know the exact number because it's constantly changing, but a lot of international terrorists have been killed in Somalia. Photographs have been taken and passports from different countries have been collected," he said.

A Whitehall counter-terrorism source said the Ethiopians had previously claimed to have seized three British passport holders fighting with the Union of Islamic Courts in December, and the names had been forwarded to the Home Office, but it was unclear whether their identity and nationality had been confirmed. "It's highly fluid and we can't get British officials in there to verify," the source said.

Tony Blair voiced support for the US action yesterday, telling the House of Commons: "We should be there standing up and supporting those who are combating that terrorism and giving people the chance to live in better circumstances."

The reaction from the rest of Europe, however, was overwhelmingly negative. The French foreign ministry said the air strikes "could increase the tensions that are already strong in the country," while Germany, currently holding the EU presidency, said the world's priority should be to stabilise Somalia.

Somali government officials claimed US gunships continued to attack Islamist fighters in southern Somalia yesterday. However, the Pentagon denied having carried out operations in the country since its initial strikes early on Monday. US military sources were quoted as saying that Ethiopian planes may have been in action and mistaken for American aircraft.

The Pentagon said its air strikes, using AC130 gunships, were aimed at killing al-Qaida suspects accused of involvement in the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Washington has not said whether any of the suspects were killed.