MOGADISHU (AP):

The United States launched an air strike in Somalia targeting terror suspects yesterday as an Islamic group with links to al-Qaida appeared to be gathering momentum again in this lawless African nation.

Residents and police in the southern town of Dobley said a home was destroyed and at least eight people, including four children, were seriously injured. The US has carried out strikes in Somalia in the past year amid fears the country could become a haven for terrorists.

"As we have repeatedly said, we will continue to pursue terrorist activities and their operations wherever we may find them," US military spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters, "the action was to go after al-Qaida and al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists," suggesting that it may have been designed to hit more than one person. Like Whitman, Johndroe declined to provide any details.

Monday's "was a deliberate, precise strike against a known terrorist and his associates," another US military official said in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the record. He said the targets were believed to be staying in a building known to be used regularly by terrorist suspects.

Lists of suspected terrorists

Remnants of a radical Islamic force that ruled much of southern Somalia in 2006 took over Dobley last week, led by senior Islamic official Hassan Turki. Turki, who is rarely seen in public, is on US and United Nations lists of suspected terrorists for having alleged ties to al-Qaida.

Dobley residents said the sound of the air strike shook them awake before dawn Monday.

"When we came out we found our neighbour's house completely obliterated as if no house existed here," Fatuma Abdullahi, a resident of Dobley, some four miles (six kilometres) from the Kenya border, told The Associated Press. "We are taking shelter under trees. Three planes were flying over our heads."