Somalia rescue: criminals not terrorists

From Larry Shaughnessy

All nine of the kidnappers were killed in the rescue operation last night in Somalia, a Pentagon spokesman said.

"There were nine criminal suspects who were killed. They were heavily armed and had explosives at the site," said Pentagon spokesman George Little.  "They were not Al Shabab. They were suspected criminals,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

"They were kidnappers, we don't have any indication that they were connected to any terrorist group or idealogical group at that point. We don't have any firm indication that there was a connection to piracy although piracy is nothing more than a crime so I certainly can't rule out the fact that they might have had those kind of connections but nothing to indicate definately that they were,” said Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby.

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