MOGADISHU - United States military officers visited Somalia at the weekend to talk to local warlords and identify potential "terrorist" targets in the anarchic country, sources close to the warlords said yesterday.
Speculation has been widespread that the US is planning a military campaign in Somalia as a second phasein its war on terrorism.
But Washington has played down the possibility of imminent strikes against the ruined Horn of Africa country.
"They were discussing whether they [the warlords] know of any terrorist bases in south and southwest Somalia," said one of the sources.
"They discussed possible cooperation if they make an operation in Somalia."
The US Embassy in Kenya declined to comment.
The sources said five officers visited the town of Baidoa, 240km southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, for talks with leaders of the Rahanwein Resistance Army, a faction opposed to Somalia's fledgling central Government.
The US officers were, said the sources, accompanied by four Ethiopian officers.
Somalia's Government has accused neighbouring Ethiopia of backing the resistance army.
The group's leaders told the officers that there was a training camp for militants, run by the Somali group al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, in a town near the border with Kenya.
The US placed the al-Itihaad al-Islamiya on a list of "terrorist" organisations after the September 11 attacks, because of its suspected links to the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.
Western defence sources say the US is exploring military facilities and resources in the Horn of Africa to help plan possible military action if Washington decides to launch strikes against alleged terrorists in the region.
Somalia descended into chaos after the fall of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, and has since disintegrated into fiefdoms controlled by rival clan warlords.
A transitional Government sits in Mogadishu but controls only parts of the capital. Washington fears that could make Somalia a haven for extremists.
Interim Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah told the BBC he strongly rejected American charges that al Qaeda has bases in Somalia.
