US naval forces have joined the hunt for Islamist militants with suspected al-Qaeda ties trying to flee Somalia after being defeated by Ethiopian-backed government troops.
The US forces, based in Djibouti, were patrolling the seas off Somalia in a bid to capture some leaders of the Islamic Courts movement, including suspected al-Qaeda agents wanted for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa
The US was working closely with Somalia's Horn of Africa neighbours "to ensure that these individuals aren't able to transit those borders", State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington, without providing details of the US deployment.
Somali Information Minister Ali Jama speculated that the Islamists, who deny they have links to al-Qaeda, might be in a dense forest along the Kenya-Somalia border, but could not give their exact location. Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said the Islamist leaders would get no amnesty, since "they are accused of terrorism and that is an international crime".
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