US naval forces today launched a missile attack on Somalia, the East African nation that has for years been embroiled in terrorist strife.

Once a haven for Islamists, a joint American-Ethiopian offensive in early 2007 partially squelched Somalia's radicals. But the Islamists are said to be making a comeback, capturing towns in the nation's southern region and inflicting several attacks on Ethiopian peacekeepers.

According to a Pentagon spokesperson, today's strike was intended to bring down one of these resurgent rebels, a "known Al Qaeda terrorist." Somali residents say the attack's actual casualties were three wounded civilians, three dead cows, one dead donkey and a partly destroyed house.