MOGADISHU, Dec 10: United States military officers visited Somalia on Sunday for talks with opposition warlords to identify potential “terrorist” targets in the anarchic country, sources close to the warlords said on Monday.

There has been widespread speculation the United States is planning a military campaign in Somalia as a second phase in 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,” one of the sources said. “They discussed possible cooperation if they make an operation in Somalia,” the source said.

The US embassy in Kenya declined to comment.

The sources said that five officers visited the town of Baidoa, some 240kms southwest of the capital Mogadishu, for talks with leaders of the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA), a faction opposed to Somalia’s fledgling central government.

The US officers were, according to the sources, accompanied by four Ethiopian officers. Somalia’s government has accused neighbouring Ethiopia of backing the RRA.

The RRA leaders told the officers that there was a training camp for militants in a town near the border with Kenya, run by the Somali group al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, the sources said.

The United States placed the al-Itihaad al-Islamiya on a list of “terrorist” organizations after the Sept 11 attacks due to suspected links to the Al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

Western defence sources say the United States 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.—Reuters