Somalia

(CBS/AP) U.S. helicopter gunships launched new attacks Tuesday against suspected al Qaeda members, a Somali official said, a day after American forces launched airstrikes in the first offensive in the African country since 18 U.S. troops were killed there in 1993.

The latest attacks killed at least 27 civilians in the town of Afmadow in southern Somalia, lawmaker Abdiqadir Daqane told The Associated Press.

The attack helicopters were trying to kill Islamic extremists, said a defense ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak.