Cyclone Phailin: Thousands Flee In East India

More than 250,000 villagers have fled their homes as a huge cyclone gathers strength and heads towards India's east coast.

Cyclone Phailin - which is already so large it has nearly filled the Bay of Bengal - is expected to be the fiercest storm to hit India since a devastating cyclone killed 10,000 people 14 years ago.

Large waves have already been pounding beaches in the state of Andhra Pradesh before the storm is due to hit.

Villagers along the coast were evacuated to schools in the north of the state and in neighbouring Odisha, while panic buying drove up food prices.

Authorities have been evacuating villagers along the coast to government-run shelters and schools in three districts of Andhra Pradesh state and five districts of Orissa state.

People in the coastal village of Podampata watch as waves gather force

But many villagers said they had not been told to evacuate, and others were refusing to leave their homes.

"Of course I'm scared, but where will I move with my family?" said Kuramayya, 38, a fisherman from the village of Bandharuvanipeta, while 12ft waves crashed behind him. "We can't leave our boats behind."

Satellite images showed Phailin some 310 miles (500km) off the coast and likely to make landfall on tonight (3pm-6pm UK time), with widespread flooding expected.

Some forecasters likened its size and intensity to hurricane Katrina, which devastated the US Gulf coast and New Orleans in 2005.

The Indian Meteorological Department said Phailin would hit between Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and the port of Paradip in Odisha state and predicted storm surges 10ft above normal tides.

The storm is due to hit Andhra Pradesh and Odisha Pic: Tropical Storm Risk

It described it as a "very severe cyclonic storm" with winds of 130-135 mph but resisted upgrading it to a stronger "super cyclone".

However, London-based storm tracking experts Tropical Storm Risk said Phailin was a super cyclone and placed it in the most powerful Category 5 of storms.

That was the same strength of storm that battered Odisha in 1999, killing thousands.

"Phailin will be no less than the 1999 super cyclone," said Odisha state's Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Mohapatra.

He said half a million people were expected to move to shelters in the state.

Indian authorities warned of extensive damage to crops and buildings, and disruption to power, water and rail services.

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Lampedusa: 27 Migrants Dead In Latest Sinking

At least 27 people are said to have died and 221 people saved after a migrant boat capsized in the Mediterranean off the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat revealed the number of casualties, three of them children, while the Italian navy said it had rescued 221 from the water during a joint Italian-Maltese operation.

Coastguard spokesman Marco Di Milla said they received a satellite phone call from the boat that was in distress and were able to locate it based on the satellite coordinates.

The Italian navy and Maltese armed forces rescued survivors

A Maltese aircraft was sent up and reported that the boat had capsized and that "numerous" people were in the water.

The aircraft dropped a life raft, and a patrol boat soon arrived at the scene, according to a statement from the Maltese armed forces.

Helicopters airlifted the injured to Lampedusa Hospital where a large medical team treated them as soon as they arrived.

Hospital director Pietro Bertolo told journalists: "They are wet and very scared, but they are doing well."

Around 221 people were pulled from the water

He said that among the migrants was a "little boy, around two years, who is very beautiful" with his "young" mother.

"They are soaking wet, we are changing them ... the father is still at the scene of the accident and is on a rescue boat," he added.

The incident comes just over a week after a boat carrying African asylum seekers caught fire and sank off Lampedusa, killing up to 350 people.

It is the second migrant vessel to sink off Lampedusa in just over a week

The deaths have prompted renewed calls for the European Union to do more to better patrol the southern Mediterranean and prevent such tragedies - and for countries like Libya to crack down on smuggling operations.

"We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a cemetery," Mr Muscat told a news conference in Valletta, the Maltese capital.

Residents of the remote southern Italian island have long complained that they have been left alone to deal with the thousands of migrants who come ashore each year from Africa and the Middle East.

Up to 350 people died after another boat caught fire and sank last week

Some 30,000 migrants have flocked to Italy so far this year. An estimated 17,000 to 20,000 have died while crossing the Mediterranean during the past 20 years on overcrowded fishing boats or rubber dinghies, seeking a better life in Europe.

Eritrea, Somalia and Syria are the main countries of origin and the majority of arrivals are on Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost point which is closer to north Africa than to the Italian mainland.

During a visit to Lampedusa this week, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso promised Italy some 30 million euros (£25.5m) in EU funds to better care for newly arrived migrants.

Italian officials pledged to put the issue on the agenda of an upcoming EU summit and on the EU agenda next year, when Italy and Greece hold the EU presidencies.

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US Shutdown: No Decision After Budget Talks

The US President and Republican leaders remain at odds over how to end the partial government shutdown or whether to raise the nation's debt limit.

Barack Obama met 20 House Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner, at the White House for talks lasting about 90 minutes.

No specific agreement was reached, although a White House spokesman said the President "looks forward to continued progress with members on both sides".

A Republican spokesman described the meeting as "useful and productive".

The talks came after Mr Boehner proposed a six-week extension to the US debt ceiling in return for the President's promise to negotiate over budget issues including the health care plan dubbed Obamacare.

Mr Boehner wants the President to negotiative over the US budget

It would have allowed the US government to borrow money until November 22, potentially averting an unprecedented federal default that could occur as early as October 17.

Negotiations will continue over the length of the proposed increase, a senior House Republican aide told the Reuters news agency.

Speaking before the meeting, Mr Boehner said: "It's time for leadership. It's time for these negotiations and this conversation to begin.

"What we want to do is to offer the President today the ability to move a temporary increase in the debt ceiling in agreement to go to conference on the budget."

The Treasury Department has said it would be unable to pay all of its bills if the $16.7 trillion (£10.4 trillion) debt ceiling is not raised before next Thursday.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde has warned that US failure to raise its debt ceiling would cause serious harm to the global economy.

The shutdown began after Congress failed to pass a bill to temporarily fund the federal government, resulting in hundreds of thousands of federal employees stopping work.

The measure is normally routine but has become entangled in Republican demands for delays or amendments to Mr Obama's health care overhaul and reduced government spending.

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White Widow's Links To Kenyan Mall Attack Group

Sky News has obtained a report by Kenyan intelligence officers which places the British wife of a London 7/7 bomber at the centre of a terror cell operating from Mombasa.

The document suggests 29-year-old Samantha Lewthwaite, also known as the "white widow", is involved with plotting attacks on UN facilities, the Kenyan parliament and other high profile institutions for al Shaabab.

The organisation claimed responsibility for last month's attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, which killed at least 67 people.

Sky News has also obtained handwritten pages from Ms Lewthwaite's journal.

:: Watch Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford's video report on the world's most wanted woman above.

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US Suspends Millions In Aid To Egypt Military

The United States is suspending the handover of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid and support to Egypt's military.

The US government said it was "recalibrating" its $1.3bn (£0.8bn) annual aid to Egypt, putting on hold the delivery of large military systems and withholding some of its cash assistance.

"Large-scale military systems and cash assistance to the government," would be frozen, a spokesman said, "pending credible progress toward an inclusive, democratically elected civilian government through free and fair elections."

In recent weeks the country has been hit by intensifying violence, which follows the toppling of elected president Mohamed Morsi.

Hundreds have been killed during demonstrations, the vast majority of whom were supporters of Morsi.

The move by the US raises expectations that the Obama administration will describe Morsi's ousting as a coup. 

Under US law it is illegal to fund a regime that has taken power as a result of a military coup.

Many have claimed the overthrow of Morsi was a coup because it appeared to have taken place with the support of Egypt's powerful military.

It also involved the removal of a democratically elected leader, and his replacement with a non-elected ruler whose appointment was announced by the military.

Egypt's military has been funded with aid since the Camp David Accord in 1978, which was seen as a crucial move in the promotion of peace in the Middle East.

The amount it receives is second only to the amount received by Israel, which was also a signatory to the accord.

Egypt uses much of its aid to order US-made defence equipment such as Apache helicopters and F-16 warplanes.

The spokesman did not say exactly how much of the aid would be suspended, but among the shipments delayed would be one for a number of MA-1 Abrams tanks and Apache attack helicopters placed on order four years ago.

Egypt will still receive crucial spare parts for certain military equipment and training for the country's armed forces will continue, officials said.

The US will also continue to provide aid that helps "secure Egypt's borders" and bolsters "counterterrorism" and "security in the Sinai."

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Libya PM Ali Zeidan Kidnapped At Gunpoint

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been kidnapped by armed men from a Tripoli hotel.

Sky News Arabia sources said Mr Zeidan was taken from the hotel where he had been staying in the capital to an unknown location.

More follows...

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Malala's British Doctor Shuns The Spotlight

By Ian Woods, Senior News Correspondent

The remarkable story of how a Birmingham children's doctor helped save the life of the world's most famous child campaigner is only now being told - and at the insistence of her patient.

One year ago today, Fiona Reynolds was visiting Pakistan with several colleagues to advise on transplant surgery when she saw TV reports about how 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai had been shot by the Taliban for publicly promoting education for girls.

Pakistani officials asked Dr Reynolds to visit the hospital in Peshawar where Malala was being treated.

"She was very ill. She was close to death," Dr Reynolds told Sky News.

"In Peshawar her father had been told by the Pakistani doctors, before I arrived, to pray for her and he took it to mean she was dying and he started to make preparations for her funeral."

Malala is writing about her ordeal in a new book

The initial surgery on Malala was a success, but poor intensive care facilities meant she would probably suffer brain damage - or even die.

"When I reviewed Malala I thought there was a good chance she could survive," Dr Reynolds said.

"But the quality of intensive care was compromising her survival and her ability to get through it without brain damage."

Dr Reynolds helped supervise as Malala was flown by the army from Peshawar to Rawalpindi, and then helped treat her in the critical hours after she arrived.

"By Friday evening it was obvious she was getting better. The threat of the infection passed," Dr Reynolds said.

"The facilities for rehabilitation were not well developed. My opinion was if you want the best outcome for her send her overseas for rehabilitation."

Malala was shot on a school bus in the Swat Valley

She recommended she be taken to Birmingham.

"They wanted me to compare various hospitals around the world and I wasn't able to do that," Dr Reynolds said.

"But what I was able to tell them was that everything I thought she would need was available in Birmingham."

Despite her key role in saving Malala's life, Dr Reynold's identity was kept secret for security reasons.

Even Dr Reynolds' friends and colleagues knew nothing of her involvement until Malala insisted that that her story be told.

But the doctor is not keen to share the spotlight, even turning down a chance to rub shoulders with some of Malala's famous admirers.

"I was invited to dinner with Angelina Jolie because of her role with the UN but it was my husband's birthday so I said no," she said.

"All of this world of celebrity and what she does is really important but I have a job to do here and it's not my world. I don't want to deal with all that celebrity."

Malala was moved to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham

She has only agreed to discuss Malala publicly because the schoolgirl encouraged her to.

"I met Malala as a doctor and I'm bound by an oath not to talk about her," Dr Reynolds said.

"She asked everyone to be named in her book, and I didn't want to be named but Malala said the book had to be the truth.

"She wants her real story to be out there."

Dr Reynolds has plenty of her praise for her former patient, who is tipped to be named as the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize later this week.

"She understands international politics in a way many adults don't. She's brought the world's attention to very important issues," Dr Reynolds said.

"I'm biased. I think she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize - but it's up to the committee to decide."

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UK Tibetan Monk 'Stabbed To Death' In China

The monk who founded the UK's first Tibetan Buddhist Centre has reportedly been "assassinated" in China.

Police in Chengdu, south-west China, say three suspects are in custody after Tarap Shetrup Akong was stabbed to death in a financial dispute.

The UK Foreign Office said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in Chengdu, China, on 8 October.

"We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."

Chinese police said three Tibetans confronted and killed the monk, his nephew and his driver.

Akong Rinpoche - who was addressed as such because of his respected status in the Tibetan Buddhist community - co-founded the Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery in Eskdalemuir Langholm, in the Scottish Borders.

A statement on the monastery's website said: "I am very, very sorry to inform you all that tragically, my brother Choje Akong Rinpoche, my nephew and one monk who was travelling with them, were all assassinated in Trengdu today.

"Rinpoche's body has been taken to hospital where a post mortem will be carried out."

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Syria Inspectors 'Face Unprecedented Danger'

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that inspectors face a year-long mission of unprecedented danger in trying to destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.

But as Mr Ban set out a blueprint for the most dangerous disarmament operation ever staged, rebels launched a major offensive.

The assault in northwest Syria highlighted the looming threats to inspectors from the joint United Nations and Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission.

In a letter to the Security Council, Mr Ban said the experts "will seek to conduct an operation the likes of which, quite simply, have never been tried before."

It normally takes years to complete the destruction of a country's chemical weapons arsenal.

Mr Ban highlighted the threat to the experts and Syrian civilians

Mr Ban said: "The joint mission will be expected to support, monitor and verify the destruction of a complex chemical weapons programme involving multiple sites spread over a country engulfed in violent conflict.

"The timelines associated with this destruction phase would be ambitious under the most peaceful and benign of circumstances."

The 11-page letter was Mr Ban's required response to the resolution adopted unanimously by the Security Council on September 27, ordering Syria's chemical weapons stockpile be secured and destroyed.

After months of diplomatic sparring, Russia and the United States agreed to work together to disarm Syria after a toxic gas attack near Damascus on August 21 in which hundreds died.

Mr Ban said an advance team of 35 personnel from the OPCW and UN have already arrived in Damascus.

On Sunday, Syrians - under the supervision of the OPCW and supported by the UN - began to destroy the weapons.

Gas canisters in Syria's chemical arsenal

They used "cutting torches and angle grinders to destroy or disable a range of materials, including missile warheads, aerial bombs and mixing and filling equipment," Mr Ban said.

"I welcome this historic step, and urge all parties to do their part to ensure that this encouraging progress is maintained and indeed accelerated," he said.

Mr Ban highlighted the threat to the experts and Syrian civilians from the sarin, mustard gas and other chemical weapons which will have to be moved amid ongoing fighting across the country.

The experts will have to work in "dangerous and volatile" conditions, particularly in urban areas such as Damascus, Homs and Aleppo, the UN leader said.

"Heavy artillery, air strikes, mortar barrages and the indiscriminate shelling of civilians areas are commonplace and battle lines shift quickly," he added.

UN weapons inspectors at the site of the August 21 attack

Two mortars landed near the Damascus hotel the team is using just before they arrived last week.

Mr Ban added that roadside bombs "have detonated in close proximity" to the inspectors.

"My two highest priorities are the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons programme and the safety and security of joint mission personnel who have volunteered to perform this vital but dangerous task," he said.

Under the Russia-US timetable, the experts will then have until the end of June to supervise the transport and destruction of the chemicals.

The Syrian government remains responsible for the destruction activities however.

Western countries blame Assad's forces for the August 21 chemical attack near Damascus which the United States says left more than 1,400 dead. The government and Russia accuse opposition rebels of having carried out the attack.

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Brazil Teachers' Pay Protest Turns Violent

Clashes erupted in Rio de Janeiro as thousands of people gathered for a march in support of striking teachers.

The march began peacefully on the Brazilian city's main avenue, but chaos broke out once night fell.   

A small group of protesters threw fireworks, grenades, tear gas and smashed a gate at City Hall, where legislation was recently passed changing public teachers' pay and working hours.

Masked demonstrators also torched a bus, broke into banks, and tried to break open and set alight cashpoints.

Some protesters also pulled furniture out of banks to use as barricades as they squared off with police.

Chaos broke out once the protesters reached city hall

The police responded with tear gas to break up the crowds.

Protesting teachers were joined by students, civil groups, leftists and anarchist groups, some of whom are known for their violent demonstrations.

Teachers have been on strike for almost two months demanding better pay.

They said 50,000 people marched to support them before the violence broke out, but police would only confirm 10,000.

Brazil's security situation is an ongoing challenge ahead of it hosting the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. 

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Theresa May Faces Quiz Over Terror Suspect

Home Secretary Theresa May is to be questioned by MPs over why one of the world's most wanted al Qaeda terror suspects - captured by US Navy SEALs - was given asylum in Britain.

Anas al Libi, who was seized at the weekend in the Libyan capital Tripoli, arrived in Britain in the mid-1990s and lived in Manchester after being granted political asylum, according to reports.

The 49-year-old was accused by the US of involvement in the 1998 American embassy bombings in east Africa which killed more than 220 people.

Al Libi, also known as Nazih Abdul Hamed al Ruqai, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police the following year but was released and later fled Britain.

Detectives are believed to have found an al Qaeda manual at his home which advised Osama bin Laden's followers on how to execute terror plots.

Theresa May will come under pressure to answer the concerns next Tuesday

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the case would be raised with Mrs May when she appears before MPs.

In a statement, the Labour MP said: "This case raises serious questions about the motives behind asylum and national security decisions in the UK.

"It is not the first time that someone, who has been brought to the attention of the authorities and released, has gone on to be linked to further terrorist activity.

"I will be raising these concerns with the Home Secretary when she appears before the Committee on the 15th October."

Al Libi was on the FBI's Most Wanted list and there was a $5m (£3.1m) bounty on his head.

US prosecutors claimed the computer expert aided the east Africa bombings by carrying out research and taking photographs of the embassy in Nairobi in 1993.

The US suspects al Libi of being an al Qaeda leader

His family have denied he was ever a member of al Qaeda but was part of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an Islamic militant group opposed to Muammar Gaddafi.

Many of the organisation's members were forced to flee the country, and al Libi is believed to have spent time in Sudan in the 1990s before moving to Britain.

His son, Abdullah al Ruqai, said his father had hired a lawyer and was trying to clear his name in connection to the 1998 embassy attacks.

"My father is not objecting to be tried but he should be tried in Libya in front of a Libyan court," he said.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the capture of al Libi was "appropriate and legal" after officials in Tripoli demanded answers as to why he was taken away.

Libya's government insisted the raids had no official authorisation and a source close to al Libi claimed he was "kidnapped" while returning from dawn prayers.

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Egypt: Dozens Dead After Pro-Morsi Protests

At least 50 people have been killed in Egypt in clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

The figure, from a health ministry official, comes as Morsi supporters protested in several cities during army celebrations to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Hundreds of people are also reported to have been wounded.

Journalist Bel Trew, in Cairo, told Sky News the military had been expecting the unrest and described seeing "chaotic side street clashes with lots of gunfire and tear gas".

She added: "There's quite a lot of anger here toward the Morsi supporters by local residents and those who wanted to go to the streets to celebrate their military on this day that Egyptians regard as one of the most proud moments of their history.

"What we're looking at is rival protests on the streets together."

A heavy security presence with tanks and armoured vehicles gathered in Cairo to try to deter the protesters, said Trew.

Supporters of Mr Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement had tried to get close to Tahrir Square, where in the past thousands have set up camp in protest against the army's coup.

Protesters in Cairo

But security forces guarded entrances to the square, frisking people arriving for the celebrations.

Mr Morsi, who became Egypt's first democratically elected president, was removed from office in July.

Since then, the military-backed government of General Abdel Fatah al Sisi has cracked down on members of the Brotherhood.

Hundreds of Mr Morsi's supporters were allegedly killed in August as protest camps were cleared, while the government said around 100 members of the security forces also died.

Away from the main squares, Cairo's streets were largely deserted on Sunday, a public holiday to commemorate the October War, known as the Yom Kippur War in Israel.

The conflict is remembered proudly by the Egyptian army because it caught Israel by surprise and led to the recovery of the Sinai Peninsula in a 1979 peace treaty.

Supporters of the Army regime waved flags as warplanes flew over Cairo in a show of force and patriotic songs boomed out from loudspeakers.

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Kenya Mall Massacre Gunmen Are Named

Four of the gunmen involved in the Kenya mall attack have been named, as police say the number who took part is fewer than first thought.

A Kenyan military spokesman gave their names as Abu Baara al Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khattab al Kene and Umayr.

The men all died in the attack that began on September 21, say officials.

Al Qaeda-linked Somali-based militant group al Shabaab said it carried out the gun and grenade assault in retaliation for Kenya's military operations inside Somalia.

Al Sudani, from Sudan, was the leader of the group inside the mall and had been trained by al Qaeda, said Kenyan military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir.

Abu Baara al Sudani is said to have been the group's leader

He was described as "an experienced fighter and sharpshooter".

Nabhan, a Kenyan of Arab origin, was born in Mombasa and travelled to Somalia with his uncle at the age of 16, said the spokesman.

The third attacker, Al Kene, is said to be Somali from the capital Mogadishu, and is linked to al Shabaab Islamist militants, Major Chirchir said.

Omar Nabhan was born in Kenya and travelled to Somalia as a teenager

The other names of the fourth attacker, Umayr, as well as his nationality and history were "not yet identified", he said.

Al Kene and Umayr are known members of al Hijra, a Kenyan extremist group affiliated with al Shabaab, according to Matt Bryden, former head of the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia.

At least 67 people were killed in September's assault on Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre.

New video has also emerged showing the four named gunmen during the siege.

Khattab al Kene is being linked with an al Shabaab-affiliated group

It shows the heavily-armed attackers walking through a storeroom in the mall and searching other adjacent rooms. 

It is understood that the CCTV pictures captured the gunmen mid-way through the assault - as many of the victims remained terrified and trapped inside the mall.

Kenya's government initially said 10 to 15 attackers were involved in the assault but police now believe between four to six people took part.

Umayr's nationality and history have not yet been identified

"From what we have now that is coming out of the investigation, the number of attackers was between four to six," police chief David Kimaiyo told Kenyan television station KTN.

"None of them managed to escape from the building after the attack," he said.

Kimaiyo also confirmed that wanted British "White Widow" Samantha Lewthwaite - reported to have been one of the attackers - was not involved.

He said: "On Samantha we have also established that she was not part of the attackers in the building. There was no woman."

Al Shabaab has promised more attacks inside Kenya unless the country's troops are withdrawn.

Some of the mall complex collapsed during the three-day siege

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to continue the military mission inside Somalia despite the mall attack.

Mr Kenyatta ordered a commission of inquiry into the attack. The Red Cross says a further 39 people are still unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, Somali al Shabaab militants have claimed foreign forces raided one of its bases in the early hours of Saturday and attacked a house.

Forces landed on the beach at Barawe -110 miles south of Mogadishu - and a gunfight ensued, a spokesman for al Shabaab's military operations, told the Reuters news agency.

Sky's correspondent Alex Crawford said she had spoken to a "high-level source" in Somalia who said he believed it was carried out by American forces.

Pentagon spokesman George Little declined to comment on whether US forces had taken part in the alleged raid.

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Al Shabaab: US Forces Strike In Somalia

US forces have staged a pre-dawn raid against a senior al Shabaab leader in Somalia who has links to last month's attack on a Nairobi shopping mall.

A Navy SEAL team slipped ashore near a southern Somalia town before the al Qaeda-linked militants rose for dawn prayers.

The raid on a house in the town of Barawa targeted a specific al Qaeda suspect related to last month's Kenya mall attack.

A US military official told the Associated Press that the raid did not capture its target. No military personnel were injured or killed in the attack.

The operation marked the most significant US assault in Somalia since commandos killed key al Qaeda operative Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in the same area four years ago.

It followed an attack by al Shabaab gunmen on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that left 67 people dead during a four-day siege.

One of the gunmen in the Kenyan shopping centre attack

"US personnel took all necessary precautions to avoid civilian casualties in this operation and disengaged after inflicting some Shabaab casualties," the official said.

Declining to identify the people who died, the official said that "even in these extreme operational circumstances, the US military is very cautious to minimise civilian casualties".

The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab had earlier claimed it was British and Turkish special forces that staged a night-time sea and air attack on one of its bases, but Britain denied any involvement.

Leaders of the Islamist insurgents in the southern Somali port of Barawa said commandos rappelled from a helicopter and tried to storm a house belonging to a senior al Shabaab commander, but the assault failed.

Al Shabaab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told the AFP news agency that commandos had stormed the beach by boat, but laid blamed on Britain and Turkey.

"The bungled operation was carried out by white people, who came with two small boats from a larger ship out at sea ... one Shabaab guard was killed, but reinforcements soon came and the foreigners fled," he said.

"Where the foreigners had been, afterwards we saw lots of blood, so maybe we wounded some."

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