BALI, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry said Sunday that a pair
of U.S. military raids against militants in
north Africa sends the message that
terrorists "can run but they can't hide."
In raids in Somalia and in Libya's capital,
U.S. special forces on Saturday struck
against Islamic extremists who have
carried out terrorist attacks in East Africa.
They captured a Libyan al-Qaida leader
allegedly involved in the bombings of
U.S. embassies 15 years ago.
After a fierce firefight, a U.S. Navy SEAL
team in Somalia aborted a mission to
capture a terrorist suspect linked to last
month's Nairobi shopping mall attack.
Kerry, in Bali for an economic summit,
was the highest-level administration to
speak about the operations yet. He made
his comments at an event at a port for
Balinese tuna fishermen.
"We hope that this makes clear that the
United States of America will never stop
in the effort to hold those accountable
who conduct acts of terror," Kerry said.
"Members of al-Qaida and other terrorist
organizations literally can run but they
can't hide."
Kerry vowed the United States would
"continue to try to bring people to justice
in an appropriate way with hopes that
ultimately these kinds of activities against
everybody in the world will stop."
The Pentagon identified the al-Qaida
leader captured in Tripoli, Libya, as Nazih
Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, known by his
alias Anas al-Libi. He's been on the FBI's
most wanted terrorists list since it was
introduced shortly after the Sept. 11,
2001 attacks.