Witnesses report at least two U.S. military air strikes in Somalia.

The raids were said to target al-Qaida figures tied to the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.

So far, the Pentagon refuses to confirm or deny the operation. Somali authorities — including a defense official — say the attacks were carried out on two villages in heavily forested areas near the Kenya border.

The targets were Islamists who were recently driven out of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, by Ethiopian forces. Somali officials say they were able to capture 28 Islamist fighters who escaped the explosions in the villages. There are no clear figures on dead or wounded from the air strikes, which were said to be carried out by low-flying U.S. planes.

U.S. officials have long contended that the Islamic Courts Union, which controlled Mogadishu until Ethiopia's recent military intervention, was providing safe haven to terrorists.

The 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, blamed on al-Qaida operatives, claimed more than 200 lives.

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