Battle of Bargal (2007)

Battle of Bargal
	Part of the War in Somalia (2006–2009); Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa
	; Somalia, Bargal is at the right hand tip of the Horn.
Date	May 31 – June 3, 2007
Location	Bargal, Somalia
Result	United States/Puntland victory
Belligerents
Islamic Courts Union	Puntland; United States
Strength
12-35 insurgents	Land:; unknown militia; 3 US Military; Sea:; 1 destroyer
Casualties and losses
12 killed	Puntland:; 5 wounded; United States:; None

The Battle of Bargal occurred in June 2007 around the town of Bargal in the northern province of Bari, in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

Battle

On May 30, between 12 and 35 heavily armed Islamist fighters arrived in two fishing boats from southern Somalia. They were a group of the Islamic Courts Union personnel heading to travel on further out of the country.^[1] After their boats sustained damaged from the rough seas they came ashore in Bargal where they raided a local village and clashed with locals before heading up the hills surrounding Bargal. Three members in a task force created by Tier 1 operators from multiple US Military branches (including Chris Vansant a Delta Force operator) who had been tracking the boats arrived in Bargal and with the help of a local warlord "Bashir" set up a patrol base and eventually confronted the fighters. In the fighting some of the local fighters were injured.^[2] On June 1, the Combat Controller in the 3 man US team contacted a United States Navy warship, the USS Chafee, and directed fire to the hills around Bargal where Islamist militants had set up a base. The target of the shelling may have been an al-Qaeda operative who the United States believed was involved in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

According to the Puntland regional government, as many as a dozen fighters including Somali militants as well as British nationals, Americans, Swedish, Pakistanis and Yemenis were killed in these operations, and five government troops were injured.

References

^ Palmer, Andrew (2014-08-15). The New Pirates: Modern Global Piracy from Somalia to the South China Sea. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-85772-527-1.
^ What Happens When Delta Force, SEAL Team 6, Combat Controller, and A Naval Gunship Enter A Country?, retrieved 2023-03-22

External links

[:36-1] Palmer, Andrew (2014-08-15). The New Pirates: Modern Global Piracy from Somalia to the South China Sea. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-85772-527-1.

[2] What Happens When Delta Force, SEAL Team 6, Combat Controller, and A Naval Gunship Enter A Country?, retrieved 2023-03-22

[1]

[2]

v t e War in Somalia (2006–2009)
Part of the Somali Civil War Ethiopian–Somali conflict War on terror
Timeline	2006 2007 2008 2009
Background	History of Somalia (1991–2006) Greater Somalia Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa Somali Civil War Factions Diplomatic and humanitarian efforts Propaganda Disarmament 2006 Islamic Courts Union offensive 2006 Battle of Mogadishu Ethiopian–Somali conflict Insurgency in Ogaden Somali Reconciliation Conferences 1993 2002 2007
Battles	Battle of Baidoa Battle of Bandiradley Battle of Beledweyne (2006) Battle of Jowhar Fall of Mogadishu Battle of Jilib Fall of Kismayo Battle of Ras Kamboni Battle of Mogadishu (March–April 2007) Battle of Bargal (2007) Battle of Mogadishu (November 2007) Battle of Mogadishu (2008) Battle of Beledweyne (2008) Siege of Baidoa Battle of Kismayo (2008)
OEF–HOA	Battle of Ras Kamboni Battle of Bargal (2007) Dobley airstrike Dhusamareb airstrike
Other events	2007 Mogadishu TransAVIAexport Airlines Il-76 crash February 2008 Bosaso bombings Al-Hidaya Mosque massacre 2008 Mogadishu bombing 2008 Hargeisa–Bosaso bombings
Key players	Ethiopia Meles Zenawi Gabre Heard Islamic Courts Union Hassan Dahir Aweys Sharif Sheikh Ahmed al-Itihaad al-Islamiya Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki al-Shabaab Mukhtar Robow Aden Hashi Farah Aero ARPCT Abdi Hasan Awale Mohamed Omar Habeb Transitional Federal Parliament Ali Mohammed Ghedi Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed Puntland Mohamud Muse Hersi Galmudug Mohamed Warsame Ali United States Jendayi Frazer AMISOM Yoweri Museveni
Next phase: Somali Civil War (2009–present)