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Operation Celestial Balance
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) set up an operation to find and destroy an Al-Qaeda cell based in Somalia but operating in east Africa in the 2000s. This cell was responsible for terrorist operations in East Africa to include the bombing of two U.S. embassies in 1998. There were two key leaders of the terrorist cell that were targeted by the agency.
A small team within the CIA was established to track down these terrorists. The Special Activities Division created a team to work with Somali clans to gather information and attempt to conduct operations against Al-Qaeda. By early 2007 Al-Shabaab was growing and offering protection to Al-Qaeda. This made it difficult for the apprehension of two key leaders of the the Al-Qaeda cell.
A special operations unit was deployed to Kenya to try and gather intelligence as well as be prepared to conduct operations into Somalia. AC-130 gunships were used to hit Al-Qaeda training camps but neither leader was killed. The U.S. 5th Fleet provided support with drones and signals intelligence. Two types of drones employed were the Navy's Scan Eagle and the CIA's Predator drones.
Eventually, through the use of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and ISR drones the terrorists were tracked down. On September 14, 2009, the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) conducted an operation named Operation Celestial Balance that killed one of the key leaders. A helicopter assault consisting of two AH-6 attack helicopters and two MH-6 Little Birds of the 160th SOAR carrying Navy SEALs attacked Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan while he was traveling in a two-car convoy near the coastal town of Baraawe in southern Somalia. The second terrorist leader was later killed in a clash with a Somali clan.
References
2009 Baraawe Raid, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Baraawe_raid
"Commando Raid in Somalia is Latest in Covert
Operations Across the Globe", The Long War Journal,
September 15, 2009.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/09/commando_raid_in_som.php
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